Alberto El Patron has gratitude for Combate Americas and he’s paying it forward.

El Patron is set to take on UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz on Dec. 7. The bout will be contested under the Combate Americas banner. El Patron hasn’t competed in an MMA bout since Feb. 2010 when he was defeated by Mamoru “Hanshi” Yamamoto.

The former WWE superstar said that he’s glad to be a part of Combate Americas’ growth:

“I keep saying this — I’m doing it for the right reasons,” Rodriguez told MMA Fighting after the fight was booked for Dec. 7 in Texas. “No. 1, because the company Combate Americas, we’re killing it. We’re killing the competition. We have amazing numbers, the ratings are fantastic. We are changing the face of the Latinos in MMA.

“I have a lot of Mexicans and Latinos looking up to me and me being a role model after all these years. I want to continue inspiring people in Latin America or Mexico or anywhere around the world.”

El Patron also admitted that he has great loyalty to Combate Americas for their support during his divorce process.

“I think this is really important — the main reason was my divorce was really difficult for me, for my life. The battle for the custody of my kids took a lot from me and it was a very difficult time in my life,” Rodriguez explained. “The company, my bosses, they have been supporting me since day No. 1.

“When you go through things like that in your life, you start thinking about who are real friends, the real people that stood up for you in those difficult moments. Because I always say it’s easy to be friends with Alberto Del Rio in the spotlight, money, girls, fun, but to be Alberto Rodriguez’s friend, the real person, going through difficult times like other people out there, this company has been with me.”