Erick “Goyito” Perez faces John Castaneda y Combate America’s showdown
Combate Americas today announced “Combate Americas: Mexico vs. USA,” a star-studded Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event that will be headlined by a bantamweight (135 pounds) showdown between world-ranked superstars Erik “El Goyito” Perez (18-6) and John “Sexi Mexi” Castaneda (16-4), live from the AVA Amphitheater at Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Ariz. on Saturday, Oct. 13.
The three-bout main card airs live on television in Spanish on both Univision (12 a.m. ET/PT) and Univision Deportes Network (UDN) (12 a.m. ET/9 p.m. PT), while the entire event including the preliminary bout card, will stream live in English on DAZN (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).
Priced from $15, tickets for “Combate Americas: Mexico vs. USA,” are on sale online at CombateAmericas.com/Tickets.
“Both Mexico and the U.S. have eagles as symbols, and this fight between ‘Goyito’ Perez and John Castaneda is, indeed, a clash of ferocious, fighting eagles,” said Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren.
The winner of the matchup between the 28-year-old Perez of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico and the 26-year-old Castaneda of Mankato, Minn., USA will become the number one contender to newly crowned Combate Americas bantamweight world champion Jose “Pochito” Alday.
Perez, who recently left the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on a three-fight win streak and with an overall record of 7-2, made his Combate Americas debut on April 20, avenging one of his only career defeats by scoring a third round (1:22) knockout (punches) on D.J. Fuentes in the main event of “Combate Estrellas II.”
Castaneda, the runner-up of the inaugural “COPA COMBATE,” one-night, eight-man, $100,000 grand prize tournament that took place in Cancun, Mexico on November 11, 2017, is looking to return to the win column after suffering a split decision defeat at the hands of Alday at “Combate Estrellas I” on April 13.
Also announced today was a bantamweight preliminary bout matchup pitting Anthony “El Toro” Birchak (12-6) of Tucson against Adam “The American Bully” Martinez (5-1) of Colorado Springs, Colo., USA.
In another bantamweight battle, Juan “El Molo” Pablo Gonzalez (7-1-2) of Buenos Aires, Argentina will square off with undefeated Mario Bautista (5-0) of Glendale, Ariz.
Also at bantamweight, Arturo “Chucky” Guzman (2-2) of Tucson will collide with unbeaten Kasey Tanner (1-0) of Scottsdale, Ariz.
In a meeting between unbeaten upstarts, the 20-year-old brother of ‘El Goyito,’ Jair “El Lupe” Perez (1-0) of Monterrey, will take on Peter De La Cruz(1-0) of Scottsdale.
Elsewhere on the card, Misael “Pitbull” Iñarritu (6-2) of El Paso, Texas via Juarez, Mexico will face off with Peter Quezada (1-4) of Tempe, Ariz. in a 160-pound catchweight contest.
Additional matchups for “Combate Americas: Mexico vs. USA,” including the co-main event, will be announced soon.
Doors at the AVA Amphitheater at Casino Del Sol open at 6 p.m. PT, with the first preliminary bout will beginning at 7 p.m.
