Karate Combat: Season 3 Premieres July 1!

Karate Combat: Season 3 Premieres July 1!

Full line-up and broadcast details announced for Karate Combat: Season 3
by John O'Regan, 2021-06-17

New York, NY - Trailblazing full-contact professional karate league Karate Combat today announced Thursday, July 1 as the worldwide premiere date for Karate Combat: Season Three.

The 12-episode season features Georges St-Pierre and Lyoto Machida in ‘season sensei’ roles, four world title fights, the introduction of a new weight class and, with more than half of fights ending inside the distance, the highest number of finishes of any Karate Combat season.

Living legend Bas Rutten reprises his role as host and lead commentator, joined as always by Josh Palmer and Layla-Anna Lee. New for this season are highly-respected Marc Goddard as senior official, real-time action analysis from Robin Black and reportage from former WWE announcer Andrea Ocampo.

Produced in the promotion’s trademark ‘fightsport of the future’ style, with real fights taking place against incredible backdrops generated by the Epic Games Unreal Engine (Fortnite, Mandalorian), this season’s virtual arenas take viewers on a journey through time from 1800s Japan through to the near future via 1980s Hollywood.

“This is the biggest season of Karate Combat ever - and I’m not just saying that. From having GSP and Lyoto Machida involved through to the fights themselves, this season takes things to a whole new level for Karate Combat. I think this season is going to blow people away,” said Adam Kovacs, President, Karate Combat.

Title fights this season include Louisiana’s Josh ‘The Preacher’ Quayhagen defending the welterweight belt against Dominican rival Dionicio ‘El Capitan’ Gustavo and Latvia’s Edgar ‘The Bear Slayer’ Skrivers defending his lightweight title against Brazilian contender Bruno ‘The White Dragon’ Assis.

Karate Combat: Season Three premieres worldwide on Thursday, July 1.

In the US, the season airs exclusively on CBS Sports Network at 10:00PM ET.

Broadcast details for Brazil, South America, Europe and the UK will be announced in the coming days.

The confirmed fighter line-up for Karate Combat: Season Three is as follows:


Josh ‘The Preacher’ Quayhagen (USA)

Karate Combat World Welterweight Champion


Edgar ‘The Bear Slayer’ Skrivers (Latvia)

Karate Combat World lightweight Champion


Dionicio ‘El Capitan’ Gustavo (Dominican Republic)

Karate Combat Welterweight Championship Challenger


Bruno ‘The White Dragon’ Assis

Karate Combat Welterweight Championship Challenger


Samuel Ericsson (Sweden)

“Joe Rogan’s favorite karateka”, social media sensation


Eoghan Chelmiah (Ireland)

Irish prospect on mission to “do for karate what Conor McGregor did for MMA”


Kamariddin Khasanov (Tajikistan)

Survived kidnap and some dangerous Russian streets thanks to karate


Myrza-Bek Tebuev (Russia)

Russian black belt with a PhD in Aeronautical Propulsion (aka “Rocket Science”)


Nikolasz Lukacs (Hungary)

This 18-year-old is the youngest fighter in Karate Combat history


Abdesslam Ameknassi (Morocco)

An outstanding competitor on the Middle East / North Africa circuit


Kevin Azouz (France)

Member of the French national team, brother of Tommy Azouz


Luiz Victor Rocha (Brazil)

Fighting out of Team Pitbull, Rocha is one of the most experienced fighters on the roster


Teeik Silva (Brazil)

Colorful, charismatic - Silva is not a fighter you’ll soon forget


Ilies ‘The Madman’ Mardhi (France/Morocco)


French contender from one of the toughest neighborhoods in Paris


Vasilii Antokhii (Russia)

The amateur circuit found him too hot to handle; Karate Combat gave him a home


Davy Dona (France)

‘The Hurricane’ is a gritty veteran from the same mean streets as Illies Mahdi


Christina Kavakopoulou (Greece)

A member of the Greek national team and a superb technician


Zsolt Habda (Hungary)


This special forces veteran is a man on a mission


Gabriele Cera (Italy)

Born, raised and trained in the shadow of Rome’s Colosseum, Cera is a modern-day gladiator


Tommy Azouz (France)

Brother of Kevin Azouz and, like him, a member of the French national team


Deivis Ferreras (Dominican Republic)

Known as ‘The Rage’, Ferreras earned his nickname for good reason.


Maximilian Mathes (Germany)

Ordained monk Mathes lives in a Buddhist monastery and considers himself a new-era samurai


Jorge Perez (Dominican Republic)

Army captain Perez is one of the most explosive fighters in Karate Combat - don’t blink.


Nikos Gidakos (Greece)


A member of the Greek national team and two-time European bronze medallist


Gilmarcos de Bastos Jr (Brazil)

Born and raised in a karate family, he began training at three years old


Gabriel Brito (Brazil)

‘The White Tiger’ is a five-time national champion in his native Brazil


Jessica Linhares de Paula (Brazil)

Shorin-Ryu black belt and two-time bronze medallist in the Pan-American Championships


Velimir Jeknic (Serbia)

The towering Jeknic spent several years in Dubai training police in hand-to-hand combat


Alberto Ramirez (Venezuela)

Venezuela national team member



Mouley Oudoud (France)

Shotokan black belt and law student


Reda Messaoudi (Morocco)

‘The Cobra’ has an infamously powerful spinning back kick


Shahin Atamov (Azerbaijan)

This unassuming Azeri has dynamite in both hands. One mistake, the fight is over.


Bryan Van Waesberghe (Belgium)

A young obsession with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles led ‘The Rampage’ into karate


Omaira Molina (Venezuela)

NYC resident ‘La Guerrera’ is a Venezuelan national champion and member of the national team


Erica Santos (Brazil)

Ten-time Brazilian national champion, nine-time Pan-American champion


Vitalie Certan (Portugal)


Certain lives life on the edge - he’s a stuntman as well as professional fighter


Daniel Viveros (Ecuador)

‘The Black Diamond’ represents Ecuador on the national team


Lazar Kukuličić (Montenegro)

‘The Lion King’ is a Balkan regional champion looking to put Montenegro on the map


Tim Ha (Czech Republic)

This young Czech newcomer has set his sights on lightweight champion Skrivers


Fabiola Esquivel (Mexico)

Mexican national squad member, Shito-Ryu black belt


Ana Villanueva (Dominican Republic)

Five-time Pan-American champion, teammate of welterweight contender Gustavo


Jesús Paucarcaja Lopez (Peru)

Jesús fights in memory of his brother, who trained him until the day he was shot dead in front of him


Nikita Yanchuk (Russia)

Russian national champion in Kudo, one of the karate world’s hardest fighting competitions


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