Melly Martinez to face Francis Hernandez, five new bouts added to stacked Long Beach card
Combate Americas today announced a women’s strawweight (115 pounds) co-main event bout between undefeated knockout artist Melissa “Super Mely” Martinez (4-0) and Francis “Hit Girl” Hernandez (3-2) for the premier Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise’s live, Univision Deportes Network (UDN) telecast (12 a.m. ET/9 pm. PT) from The Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 28.
The event, “Combate Americas: Camino a Copa Combate,” will be headlined by the previously announced, first two-ever “COPA COMBATE” qualifying fights, the winners of which will represent their respective countries – the U.S. and Mexico – in the one-night, eight-man, $100,000 grand prize tournament that will take place in the featherweight (145 pounds) division on a November date to be announced soon.
An explosive Muay Thai stylist, the 21-year-old Martinez of Mexico City, Mexico has been on a warpath since she made her Combate Americas promotional debut on June 30, 2017, scoring a thunderous, second round (2:45) head kick TKO on Yajaira Romo.
In her last effort on April 20, Martinez dominated Argentina’s Ivanna Martinenghi for three consecutive rounds of action at “Combate Estrellas II” in Monterrey, Mexico before earning a unanimous decision victory.
Fighting out of Little Rock, Ark. where she is serving as an active duty Staff Sergeant with the U.S. Army, the 30-year-old Hernandez, who hails from Camuy, Puerto Rico is coming off an impressive Combate Americas debut performance that saw her submit (rear-naked choke) Shyann Farmer in the second round (2:12) of battle in Sacramento, Calif.
Also announced today were five preliminary bout card matchups for the “Combate Americas: Camino a Copa Combate” event, including a bantamweight (135 pounds) battle between Oscar “Jacare” Suarez (4-1) of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain and Carlos Ochoa (3-5) of Indio, Calif.
Elsewhere on the preliminary bout card, Dominic Clarke (11-8) of Los Angeles, Calif. will collide with Danny “The Realist” Ramirez (6-4) of Sacramento, Calif. at lightweight (155 pounds).
Undefeated Jesse Strader (3-0) of Lancaster, Calif. USA will take on “Handsome” Mario Navarrio (4-5) of Northridge, Calif., USA. In featherweight action.
In one of two flyweight (125 pounds) contests announced today, Heinrich Wassmer (6-3) of Highland Park, Calif. will battle David “Farmer of Destruction” Duran (6-4) of Whittier, Calif., while in the other, unbeaten Hugo Aranda (2-0) of Van Nuys, Calif. will square off with “Malicious” Michael Reyes (4-4) of Oxnard, Calif.
Additional preliminary bout matchups will be announced soon.
In one of the two, single, five-minute round featherweight “COPA COMBATE” tournament qualifying fights that will send the winner to represent the U.S. in the eight-man tournament in November, Erick “The Ghost Pepper” Gonzalez(8-2) of Redondo Beach, Calif. will face Andres “The Bullet” Quintana (14-2) of Roswell, N.M.
In the second tournament qualifying fight, the winner of which will represent Mexico at “COPA COMBATE,” Pablo “El Gallo Negro” Sabori (8-4) of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora will collide with Alejandro “El Gallito” Flores (12-1) of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
Priced from $30, tickets for “Combate Americas: Camino A Copa Combate” are on sale at The Walter Pyramid’s online ticketing platform, as well at Ticketon.com.
Doors at the venue will open at 6 p.m. PT on September 28, and the first preliminary bout will begin at 7 p.m.
