In 1975 Flores, along with Ray Mendoza broke away from EMLL and formed the rival Universal Wrestling Association (UWA).
Villano III especially benefitted from Flores' way of promoting as he became one of the rising young stars in the mid to late 1970s.
Flores and the UWA's promotion of El Canek made him a world wide wrestling star, booking him as the "Mexican defender" against a variety of foreign wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and André the Giant.
[2] The UWA also helped give a young El Hijo del Santo his start in wrestling.
The UWA flourished in the 1970s and 1980s but hit harder times in the 1990s and was forced to close down in 1995 after which Francisco Flores went into retirement.