Founding and Combate Americas Era (2011-2017)
Combate Global was founded in 2011 by Campbell McLaren under the name Combate Americas. McLaren was a co-creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the early 1990s while at SEG, and he launched the new venture on the premise that Hispanic mixed martial arts fans in the United States and Latin America were underserved by existing promotions. The company positioned itself as a Hispanic-focused MMA franchise, presenting its events bilingually and recruiting fighters primarily from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and the broader Latin American region. The promotion's televised footprint took shape in December 2013, when the cable network Mun2 greenlit a reality series tied to the brand. Over the following years Combate Americas built a roster of regional stars and began distributing fights across the United States, Brazil, and Spanish-speaking markets. In 2017 the company added significant front-office leadership, with Joe Plumeri appointed as chairman.
Copa Combate and the Telemundo Partnership (2017-2018)
A defining element of the promotion's identity emerged in 2017 with Copa Combate, a one-night, eight-fighter single-elimination tournament awarding a $100,000 grand prize. Designed around a soccer-style, country-versus-country rivalry concept, the inaugural Copa Combate was produced in partnership with Telemundo Deportes and held on November 11, 2017, in Cancun, Mexico. Levy Saul Marroquin of Mexico won the first tournament, defeating three opponents in a single night. The second edition took place on December 7, 2018, in Fresno, California, and was won by Andres Quintana of the United States. In 2018 the promotion's programming began airing on Univision Deportes, which the company highlighted as a regular free-of-charge broadcast outlet for MMA in the U.S. Hispanic market. This broadcast relationship became central to the promotion's growth strategy and set the stage for a deeper corporate alignment with Univision.
Rebrand to Combate Global and Univision Stake (2021)
In March 2021 the company announced a five-year media rights partnership with Univision and adopted the name Combate Global, debuting the new brand with an event on April 9, 2021. The agreement called for roughly 30 live televised events per year, totaling about 150 events over the deal's term. The rebrand was explained as a reflection of the roster's expansion to include athletes from outside the United States and Latin America, reinforcing the country-versus-country format. In July 2021, after rising ratings, Univision Communications acquired a significant equity stake in the promotion, deepening the ties between the broadcaster and the company whose events it had carried since 2018. In June 2021 the promotion also added English-language distribution through CBS Sports Network and Paramount+, broadening its reach beyond Spanish-language audiences.
Modern Era (2022-present)
Through the 2020s Combate Global continued staging regular weekly-style events centered on its bantamweight, featherweight, and lightweight divisions, with Copa Combate remaining its signature annual showcase. The promotion's distribution shifted over time; by 2024 its programming moved to Fuse Media, with library content made available on the El Rey Network FAST channel. The company's stature within the combat-sports industry was reflected in 2024, when Forbes ranked Combate Global as the tenth most valuable combat sports organization in the world, with an estimated value of approximately $120 million. The promotion has maintained Campbell McLaren as chief executive and continued to brand itself as a leading Hispanic-focused MMA franchise.