LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK – May 14, 2024 – COMBATE GLOBAL and Fuse Media today announced a new lightweight (155 pounds) main event between Patrick “The Leech” Lehane (7-2) and James “The Alley Cat” Gonzalez (10-7), live from Miami on Saturday, May 18, and airing exclusively in English on Fuse at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.
The announcement comes just four days after it was announced that Lehane would take on Mexico’s
Ivan “Choko” Castillo (24-17), who has since been forced to withdraw from the bout due to sustaining a bad eye poke during a sparring session.
The 24-year-old Lehane of Cork, Ireland has emerged as one of COMBATE GLOBAL’s premier athletes and most exciting fighters to watch since making his professional debut with the promotion on August 1, 2021 and scoring back-to-back upset victories over two opponents – Sebastian Santana Guedes and Maxime Giacalone – with over a dozen professional bouts combined, to win the first-ever COMBATE GLOBAL one-night European tournament.
Following his last COMBATE GLOBAL victory – a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Roberto Romero on December 17, 2023 – Lehane ventured to Tokyo, Japan where he represented COMBATE GLOBAL in a Shoot Boxing Federation contest, coming out victorious by way of unanimous decision over local Japanese star Ryoga Imoto on February 10.
Gonzalez, 33, hails from East Patchogue, NY, and holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under retired, former world champion Matt Serra.
Gonzalez brings a significant amount of high-level experience with him for his first start in La Jaula, having squared off with a few notable names in the sport. His best victory to date came on February 1, 20202, when he earned a first round (:46) TKO (arm injury) victory over world-ranked Pat Sabatini.
In the previously announced women’s flyweight (125 pounds) co-main event, Nadia Vera (5-2-1) will face off with undefeated Veronica Vargas (3-0).
Vera hails from Mexico City, Mexico and is a member of the Bonebreakers fight team, which won the 2022 COMBATE GLOBAL competition reality series pitting four of MMA’s top camps against each other in a series of bouts.
Vera is coming off a first-round (2:39) submission (rear-naked choke) of Giuliana Cosnard on April 12.
Vargas of San Jose, Costa Rica will return to COMBATE GLOBAL action for the second time this year, following a thrilling, three-round battle with Spain’s Blanca Medina that Vargas pulled off after being out of MMA action for two years, a hiatus she took in order to compete in grappling events.
Prior to her latest win, Vargas had beaten all of her professional and amateur opponents by way of (T)KO or submission.
In a previously announced, featured featherweight (145 pounds) contest, social media sensation and Mexican MMA prospect Luis “Pride” Escudero (3-2) will battle Carlos Cordoba (1-4).
Fighting out of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, Escudero is a 26-year-old TikTok star with over 6.8 million followers and subscribers across all of his social media pages.
In his last effort, Escudero produced a highlight reel armbar submission of Juan Campos in the first round (1:11) of their meeting on August 25, 2023.
Cordoba is a 31-year-old native of San Jose, Costa Rica fighting out of Orlando, Fla., and is looking for his first COMBATE GLOBAL victory.
