Tito Ortiz-Alberto Del Rio headlining Combate Americas PPV debut

Former WWE Champion Alberto El Patron will fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in the main event of Combate Americas’ debut pay-per-view on December 7th in Hidalgo, Texas, announced on Ariel Helwani’s ESPN show.

The fight will be at a 210 pound catchweight and the event itself will cost $39.99.

The former Alberto Del Rio signed with Combate last October, returning to a sport he hasn’t competed in since 2010. During that run, the 42-year-old went 9-5 and famously was knocked out by Mirko Cro Cop while wearing a mask at a 2003 PRIDE event. Helwani said El Patron (Jose Rodriguez) has been training with Bellator two-division champion Ryan Bader and UFC light heavyweight C.B. Dolloway for the fight.

After a tumultuous few years that saw El Patron released from both WWE and Impact Wrestling, he has been relatively quiet on the wrestling scene outside the co-creation of Nacion Lucha Libre with Chavo Guerrero.

The 44-year-old Ortiz is coming out of retirement again after runs with Bellator and a one-off fight with Oscar De La Hoya’s failed MMA effort last November when he knocked out Chuck Liddell. He signed with Combate, the brainchild of UFC co-founder Campbell McLaren, earlier this year. He has won four of his last five dating back to May 2014.

The two had a slight confrontation in August at a Combate event: