Alberto El Patron Stepping Down As President Of Combate Americas

Alberto El Patron will be stepping down from his role as president of the Combate Americas MMA promotion.

Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren revealed the news in exclusive comments made to MMAUNO.com.

"Alberto is a really good friend of mine and his girlfriend Saraya who is 'Paige' I'm sure you know, they become very close friends of mine and when they are in New York they come out to dinner with my wife and I," McLaren told MMAUNO.com. "They are good pals, but what Alberto is telling me, is that his first love is wrestling. You know, his father was 'Dos Caras' a very famous wrestler and Saraya's family is third generation English wrestlers, you know about her right? And so what Alberto has said to me, and we haven't unveiled this yet, but we can talk about it, he's probably stepping back his official roles from Combate and he's going to focus on more on wrestling for the next year or two."

El Patron is currently suspended indefinitely from Global Force Wrestling, where he is their reigning World Heavyweight Champion. The suspension came after an incident with Paige at the Orlando International Airport earlier this month. No arrests were made and no charges were filed.

McLaren explained that he believes El Patron is stepping away from his duties with Combate Americas to focus solely on professional wrestling.

"I think he's reaching a point in his career when he knows that the physical demands of wrestling are not what he wants to continue doing, but I think he knows he's got a couple of years still left to keep maintaining his level of performance," McLaren said. "It's a very challenging enterprise and I think it's very, very hard on the body and difficult to do. Very physical, very athletic, so I he's kind of asked me if he can step away and with Saraya, focus on wrestling."

McLaren was adamant he and El Patron remain on good terms and El Patron will continue to attend Combate Americas events.

"We will remain as friends and he will always be at Combate events," McClaren said. "But in an official sense, he's going to step down."

Jeremy Borash stated Wednesday in a conference call to WrestlingINC.com owner Raj Giri that El Patron's situation is still under review by Global Force Wrestling.

Charles Maynard contributed to this article.