LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK – June 18, 2024 – A pair of fighter injuries, including one sustained by previously announced main event competitor Kayla “Kayrock” Hracho, has prompted COMBATE GLOBAL to re-shuffle its talent deck and create two new bouts, including a featherweight (145 pounds) main event between Kevin “El Prendido” Garcia (10-4) and undefeated Anas “The Rainmaker” Azizoun (5-0), for its Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event on Saturday, June 22, airing live from Miami on Fuse at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Hracho, who was slated to face off with Claire Lopez in an atomweight (105 pounds) main event contest, was forced to withdraw from the event due to a knee injury sustained in training camp.
COMBATE GLOBAL made its best effort to replace Hracho with less than two weeks remaining before the show but was unable to do so.
The newly re-signed Garcia is a 26-year-old battler hailing from Monterey, N.L., Mexico and a two-time veteran of COMBATE GLOBAL action.
Garcia was last seen in La Jaula, the COMBATE GLOBAL competition cage, on April 20, 2018, when he earned a unanimous decision over Argentina’s Juan Pablo Gonzalez in Garcia’s hometown.
Standing opposite the Mexican fighter will be the 26-year-old Azizoun, a hard-hitting striker from Saint Etienne, France.
Azizoun, who sports a nearly unblemished record of 17-1-1 in professional kickboxing and is a reigning world champion and four-time French national champion in the sport, was nicknamed after his aggressive punching style.
To date, Azizoun has been perfect in La Jaula, defeating Mexico’s Ismael “Kraken” Zamora and American Adam “Kid Solo” Ortiz via majority decision and unanimous decision, respectively.
In another new, featured matchup that will replace the previously announced bantamweight (135 pounds) fight between David Camacho and Danny Martinez, undefeated Michel “La Furia” Martinez (3-0) of Valencia, Spain will take on Rudisel Mora (0-1) of Miami.
The new bout was put together as a result of Martinez’s withdrawal from the fight against Camacho due to a cut Martinez sustained over his right eye in training. COMBATE GLOBAL was not able to find a suitable replacement to face Camacho on short notice.
In the previously announced women’s atomweight co-main event, two-time national Karate champion Andrea Meneses (5-2) will square off with unbeaten Janet Garcia (2-0).
The 27-year-old Meneses of Gava, Spain holds a Kyokushinkai Karate black belt, and is a member of Team Uppercut, the Barcelona-based fight camp that competed in the 2022 COMBATE GLOBAL ‘Exclusivos’ competition reality series.
Garcia is a 33-year-old upstart out of San Francisco, Calif. and a member of Team AKA, the famed camp led by trainer and former world kickboxing champion Javier Mendez, who has produced and mentored a slew of MMA champions and other superstars.
Garcia, to date, is unbeaten in La Jaula, since defeating Mariah Castro and Katie Perez, respectively, in 2023, with both wins coming by way of unanimous decision.
