Issue 121
November 2014
Scottish-American UFC co-founder Campbell McLaren is back – and this time he’s gone Hispanic with award-winning Spanish-language reality show Combate Americas.
ith almost 300,000 viewers each week, Hispanic MMA reality show Combate Americas was a hit long before it started picking up red carpet awards. And with plans for live events this fall, it seems founder Campbell McLaren has struck MMA gold for the second time in his illustrious career.
One of the founders of the UFC, McLaren was the TV executive who backed Art Davie and Rorion Gracie 21 years ago and who worked with the organization right up until its sale to Zuffa back in 2001. Now, after a couple of near misses, he’s back with a product that’s really catching on.
Combate Americas’ inaugural 10-episode opening season concluded in December, crowning its first winner, and picked up a prize of its own in July at the 29th Annual Imagen Awards, beating off powerhouse shows like The Voice to claim the ‘Best Variety or Reality Show’ gong.
Naturally, for McLaren and his team, it was a huge surprise and vindication that they are on the right track. “Especially because this is fighting,” he admits to FO, “and a lot of people believe fighting doesn’t show any culture in a positive light. Hard as it is to believe, not everybody’s a fight fan. So it was incredible. I’m really proud of us. I really am.”
While the format of the show is similar to The Ultimate Fighter. With groups of prospects living together and competing against one another to be last man standing, Combate Americas is distinctly Hispanic and is designed specifically to appeal to the millions of Spanish-speaking Americans in the US.
“The Ultimate Fighter is a great show, as 20 seasons and counting proves, but I was with Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White the week we won the award and I said, ‘Guys, the reason Combate Americas is not a threat to you in any way is that we can embrace Hispanic culture in a way that the UFC can’t.’ Whether it’s TUF: Latin America or whatever it still can’t embrace Spanish culture completely, whereas we are exactly that.
“Combate Americas is totally Hispanic. We don’t bring in Hispanic, we are Hispanic. And that’s the big difference. There are 60 million US Hispanics, that’s our audience, and it’s three times the Canadian population.”
That Hispanic heritage runs deep. Daddy Yankee, the Puerto Rican reggaeton recording artist, serves as commissioner, while Piolin, the leading Spanish language radio host in the US, is one of the announcers. And hosting are Venezuelan Grammy-winning recording artists Chino y Nacho.
Campbell says: “Years ago I did a show called Iron Ring, featuring hip-hop artists, and I got a lot out of it. It really did great TV ratings, it really did. But the African-American, Black-American demo is really just a group of people. It’s not a coherent group.
“If you look at Hispanic culture it isn’t racial, it’s a society within the US society. It’s a shared language with a shared background, even though there are a lot of countries involved. Music is very much a part of all this. Music, dress, ethnic awareness. This is a huge group that is intertwined.
“I was asked recently, ‘So Latin America is your target?’ And I replied, ‘No. America-America is our target.’ This is a show featuring Americans. The US is an immigrant country. Everybody here is an immigrant unless you’re Native American.
“This is just focussing on the biggest group. And it has as passionate fight fans as anybody. They especially love boxing, and there is a real passion for soccer. Now I’m bringing this group to MMA.”
With around 250,000 viewers a week tuning in to watch Combate Americas on Mun2, an NBC-Universal Spanish language station geared towards 18–24 year olds, as well as nearly 40,000 a week watching the show online, it’s no surprise to hear the reality show is gearing up for a second season.
Yet McLaren insists a live fight card later next month will come first. “We’ll begin the televised live events this fall, with the first one scheduled for Miami on October 19th. Hopefully that will lead us into a second season of the show.”
Unlike the show, however, the live events may also feature fighters without direct Hispanic links. Campbell admits that a ‘sprinkling’ of non-Hispanic’s will be necessary, especially in the early years, to ensure fans get to see the most competitive fight cards possible. But the reality show will be strictly for Spanish-speaking Americans only. Well, kind of.
“I don’t wanna say we won’t sign anybody that’s non-Hispanic. For instance, maybe someone is married to a Latino, that’s a story right there. There has to be a connection to what we are doing. The Hispanic world is a very mixed up world. Look at ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, a red-headed Mexican, or Nick Diaz or Eddie Alvarez, guys who speak hardly a word of Spanish yet have close ties to the Hispanic community.
“So there are no hard and fast rules. It’s about people. And you shouldn’t put people in slots... It really will be a case-by-case basis in regards to signing talent. I would like all the fighters to have at least a relationship with Combate Americas’ direction.
“But in the first season of the show we brought in Joe Valtellini, an Italian-Canadian kickboxer signed with Glory, to coach. And we also had Eddie Alvarez, who’s from Philadelphia, and Royce Gracie was in the show too, who is, of course, Brazilian. So there won’t ever be the rule of if you’re not Hispanic you’re not in.
“But the reality shows will be Hispanic. It will only feature Hispanic fighters as it’s so tied in with the whole culture already, and it’s aimed at a Hispanic population... That said, we would be interested in doing a Chino-Latino mix. Asian fighters match up with Hispanic fighters very well, as you don’t get many Hispanic and Asian fighters bigger than 170lb. That offers itself very well for some great fights.”
In regards to the weight classes in Combate Americas, McLaren admits that middleweights and above will have no home with the organization.
“Welterweight is basically our heavyweight division,” he states, “that’s how we are treating it. That’s going to be our biggest weight class.
“Europe and America have always seen the heavyweights as the best fighters, but that’s not true in Asia or South America. Speed is more central to talent in the Hispanic community, rather than size.”
