Endemol Shine Boomdog, part of Banijay Americas, and fellow production company, La Jaula Studios, have entered into a development deal for a six-episode series covering “Copa Combate,” the pinnacle of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting and the only one-night, eight-fighter, single-elimination tournament in the sport.
“I’m excited to team with Endemol Shine Boomdog to tell the compelling stories around the toughest tournament in sports, ‘Copa Combate,” said La Jaula Studios and Combate Global CEO, Campbell McLaren, who started the sport of MMA when he co-created and produced the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in 1993. “Not since I launched the UFC with the original tournament format, has the world seen this kind of demanding and thrilling contest.”
“As the founder of modern-day MMA fighting, we are thrilled to team with Campbell, alongside the teams at Combate Global and La Jaula Studios on this groundbreaking series, which will take audiences behind the scenes of this demanding, one-night-only tournament,” says Alejandro Rincon, CEO, Endemol Shine Boomdog. “This partnership marks a significant step for Endemol Shine Boomdog in sports production, an area we aim to expand further into, in line with Banijay Entertainment’s wider ambitions to supercharge efforts in this genre.”
“Copa Combate,” much like international soccer tournaments, pits eight fighters from different countries against one another in a bracket-style, single-elimination format tournament, requiring a fighter to win three bouts in one night to claim the event’s coveted $100,000 grand prize and the trophy.
Combate Global’s “Copa Combate” tournament made its debut in November 2017 in Cancun, Mexico, and has since produced some of the fiercest and most memorable fight action in combat sports history, ranging from dramatic comebacks to ferocious exchanges between world-class competitors and underdogs and overnight sensations emerging as winners of this one-of-a-kind event.
Athletes for each tournament event are carefully vetted and selected for the tournament based on their respective achievements in the fight world as well as professional ranking in their respective regions of the world.
The Endemol Shine Boomdog and La Jaula Studios joint production will capture all the physical and emotional rigors and the highs and lows that the eight competitors endure during training and in their personal lives, on the road to the biggest opportunity of their careers.
To date, a total of five “Copa Combate” tournaments have taken place and have crowned champions from four different countries – Mexico, the U.S., Peru and Ireland.
In the last “Copa Combate” tournament that took place in Miami, undefeated Ramiro “El Cachanilla” Jimenez of Mexico walked into the event as the odds on favorite to win the event, but was quickly met with resistance by a determined quarterfinal stage opponent in Chile’s Pablo Burgos, who battered and nearly defeated the Mexican star before Jimenez, in heroic fashion, turned the tides and emerged victor of the fight by a judges’ decision.
Still on the mend after his first encounter, Jimenez somehow dug deep and turned up his volume of offense, finishing both his semifinal stage and championship stage opponents in the first round of battle, to become tournament champion.