Just a week before the return of the yearly tradition, the Copa Combate brackets for the 2021 version of the tournament have been revealed.
Tournaments or Grand Prix’s have been the rage in MMA over the last few years. Bellator, ONE Championship, and the PFL have all used the format successfully in 2021. However, only one company will take the tournament concept and do it all in one night in 2021, and that is Combate Global — formerly Combate Americas.
Combate Global’s CEO Campbell McLaren was one of the founders of the UFC, and the current MMA world-leader originally built its brand on the one-night tournament concept. Even before Combate Americas went Global the promotion has continued mining that industry folklore and made its Copa Combate event a standard year-end extravaganza, that puts a memorable exclamation point on their schedule.
This year’s Copa Combate brackets and reserve bouts revealed
After the 2020 edition of the Copa Combate was scrapped after the promotion was forced into a hiatus, like many other organizations, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s tourney brings one of the most internationally diverse fields in history. The tournament, which takes place in the bantamweight division and has a US $100,000 grand prize, will feature fighters from Mexico, Peru, the US, Ireland, Argentina, Spain, Chile, and France.
For the 2021 version, the quarterfinal and semifinal bouts will each be contested in one five minute round. The championship round will then be decided over three rounds, also five minutes each. Meaning, each bout over the first two rounds is likely to be barnburners as the competitors can waste no time if they hope to get the chance to compete for a fat six-figure paycheck in the finals.
The Sunday, Dec. 12 event will be broadcast live from the Univision Studios in Miami, Fla. The event’s pre-show kicks off at 9:30 pm ET and is followed by the first bout at 10 pm ET. Both the pre-show and English-language broadcast of the event will air exclusively on Paramount+.
The complete list of quarterfinal and reserve bouts for the tournament can be found below.
2021 Copa Combate tournament card
Jose Zarauz (22-8-1) vs. Frans Mlambo (11-5) – Left side of bracket
Cristian Barraza (7-3) vs. Carlos Briseno (8-1) – Left side of bracket
Luciano Ramos (8-6) vs. Kevin Cordero (12-2) – Right side of bracket
Pierre Daguzan (6-5) vs. Leo Muniz (6-1) – Right side of bracket
Felipe Vargas (7-2) vs. Diego Manzur (4-0) – Reserve bout
Ricky Bandejas (14-6) vs Alan Cantu (9-7) – Reserve bout
