Levy Marroquin out, Gustavo Lopez in against Jose Aldy in Combate Americas title fight

Gustavo Lopez will replace Levy Marroquin in Combate Americas’ bantamweight title fight against Jose Alday in Downtown Phoenix

Combate Americas has lost yet another main event. On Thursday afternoon, promotion officials announced Levy Marroquin (11-2) was forced to withdraw from the title fight against Jose Alday due to symptoms of influenza detected by the Arizona Boxing Commission.

As a result, Gustavo Lopez (8-3) will step in on short notice to challenge Alday (11-3-1) in the main event of tomorrow’s card in Downtown Phoenix.

The 29-year-old Lopez is a five-time Combate Americas veteran, who is looking to bounce back from his knockout loss to Andrew Ewell under KOTC banner in Feb. 2018.

Prior to this, Combate Americas fans saw Lopez walk away with a first-round submission win over Steve Swanson, brother of WEC and UFC veteran Cub Swanson. To date, All of Lopez’s fights under the Combate Americas banner have ended in (T)KO or submission.

Lopez has also competed for the promotion’s 135-pound title in the past, where fans saw him knocked out by John Castaneda in Oct. 2016. However, because Castaneda missed weight, he was not awarded the belt.

Alday (10-3-1), who turns 27 tomorrow, will enter the bout looking to improve on his split decision win over Castaneda in the main event of the historic Univision and UDN simulcast at Combate Estrellas I in April.

The 135-pound title fight also marks the first time in history a major MMA promotion uses a three-round, rather than the traditional five-round format, for a world championship bout.

The complete, nine-bout fight card airs in its entirety on DAZN, the live and on-demand sports streaming platform, in English in the U.S. and Canada, beginning with the first preliminary-card bout, at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT inside the Celebrity Theatre.