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Crowd favourite Malik clinches Superfight Championship title over Washington to conclude successful Martial Combat 4  

SINGAPORE, 17 June 2010 – Martial Combat 4 provided another fantastic night of mixed martial arts action with Singapore-based Brian Choi stealing the show with his closely-contested decision over Japanese American Isamu Himura after a frantic see-saw battle at Resorts World Sentosa.

The two fighters set a frenetic pace as they constantly battled for position throughout the fight. Choi, a wrestling coach at Evolve MMA, landed a series of eye-catching takedowns in the fight, utilizing his wrestling skills to repeatedly pick Himura up and slam him on the ground. Himura responded with a few takedowns of his own as both men exchanged submission attempts.

The audience gave both fighters an enormous ovation at the start of round three as a rapidly tiring Himura attempted to take the fight to the floor. Choi was able to defend the takedown attempt and caught Himura in an arm bar. Choi appeared to have the submission locked in and Himura must have been tempted to tap but showed incredible heart to escape and fight to the finish. The fight was a fantastic exhibition of skills by both men which captivated the Resorts World audience and Choi was deservedly awarded the winning decision.

Said Choi, who was delighted to emerge victorious in front of his home fans: “He was a late replacement and I didn’t know anything about him so I couldn’t prepare. It was a tough fight but I think the takedowns won me the fight. This is a great show and I am proud to be representing Evolve MMA and Singapore.”

Highly rated Filipino fighter Eduard Folayang was tipped for a victory in the opening fight, but faced a stern examination of his MMA credentials against Slovakian Muay Thai specialist Egon Racz. Racz threw a couple of early leg kicks but Folayang, who has a very high level of Wushu, was able to check them comfortably. The Filipino scored with a right hand before landing a huge takedown. Racz showed some intelligent submission defence but was simply overwhelmed by Folayang who landed some ground and pound before sinking in a guillotine choke.

Muhsin Corbbrey, a world renowned MMA fighter, was looking to put on an eye-catching performance against the unbeaten Wu Cheng Jie. Corbrey scored with some heavy leg kicks but Wu was able to catch one and send Corbbrey to the canvass. It proved to be a fatal error as the American is deadly on his back. Corbbrey first attempted an armbar and from there transitioned into the mount. Once Corbbrey had secured a dominant position there was simply nowhere for the Chinese to run from the professional boxer as he received a torrent of vicious elbows that left the referee little option but to step in and award the fight to the American.

Brazilian Arthur Cesar was able to make it two wins out of two tonight for the Evolve MMA team with a submission win over South Korean stand up specialist Yun Seob Kwak. Cesar secured an early take down and pinned his opponent to the floor before finishing the fight with a rear naked choke.

The Superfight Championship Belt showdown was billed as the War in Singapore with Afghanistan-born Malik Mawlayi taking on Cyrus Washington from USA. After a hesitant start, the muay thai-trained Washington took the fight to Mawlayi who threw a wild back kick before taking the American to the floor and quickly moved into side control. Cyrus gave up his back in an attempt to escape and Mawlayi sunk his hooks in and secured the rear naked choke for the victory.

Said a jubilant Mawlayi: “He was so tall, when I saw him stepping into the cage, I thought I’d go to my Plan B, which was to take him down. But he was so strong I couldn’t submit him that fast, but as soon as he made a mistake I caught him - rear naked chokes are my specialty. I felt good fighting in Singapore and I am thankful my fans for cheering for me. I’d like to tell them to keep believing in me and I will certainly be back.”

Tonight’s contests were crowd pleasers with fans cheering on and inspiring the fighters. Held at the Compass Ballroom, Resorts World Sentosa, the Martial Combat series featured 10 world-class mixed martial arts fighters battle over five explosive fights, presented by ESPN STAR Sports and Resorts World Sentosa. Resorts World® Sentosa Martial Combat™ is the only MMA event officially recognized and sanctioned by two of the world’s leading governing bodies in the martial arts scene, the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Federation (AMMAF) and the World Martial Arts Federation of Singapore.

Mixed martial arts fans can expect even more hard-hitting action in Martial Combat 5 and 6 when another ten fighters do battle next month on 14-15 July at the majestic Compass Ballroom, Resorts World Sentosa. Fans can look forward to more fights over the next four months with some of the world’s top professional contenders competing at Resorts World® Sentosa. Kindly visit www.RWmartialcombat.com for more information.

-ENDS-

About Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) combines the best fighting systems in the various fields of martial arts including muay thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, boxing and wrestling. As a spectator sport, it blends the mystique of martial arts, the adrenaline of prize fighting, and the excitement of sports.

MMA is already of the world’s fasting growing sports and has dominated the North American pay-per-view scene. Its unique combination of a full-contact combat sport, which also allows a wide variety of fighting techniques, has led to a mass following amongst different types of martial arts enthusiasts.

About Resorts World Sentosa

Resorts World Sentosa, one of the world’s most extensive and expensive integrated resorts at S$6.59 billion, was built in a record time of under three years. Resorts World Sentosa has soft opened its four hotels on 20 January 2010, its shopping and dining strip, FestiveWalk on 30 January 2010, Singapore’s first casino on 14 February 2010, together with the Resorts World Convention Centre, which includes its Compass Ballroom, 26 function rooms and 1,600-seat Festive Grand theatre and Southeast Asia’s first and only Universal Studios Singapore on 18 March 2010. Supporting the attractions are a 3,500-lot carpark facility, restaurants, retail stores, entertainment and public attractions that include Emmy-award winner Jeremy Railton’s Lake of Dreams and Chamber of Treasures.

Resorts World Sentosa will open the world’s largest Marine Life Park, its Maritime Xperiential Museum, a destination spa and two remaining hotels with a total of 500 rooms in phase two development.

About ESPN STAR Sports

ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world’s leading cable and satellite broadcasters. As Asia's definitive and complete sports broadcaster and content provider, ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies – Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) – to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay tv services.

ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe 24 hours a day to a cumulative reach of more than 300 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 19 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN SEA, ESPN China, ESPN Hong Kong, ESPN India, ESPN Malaysia, ESPN Philippines, ESPN SEA 2, ESPN Taiwan, MBC-ESPN (Korea), STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Malaysia, STAR Sports SEA, STAR Sports SEA 2, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Cricket, ESPNEWS and ESPN HD.

On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. ESPN STAR Sports aims to reach consumers at any time, any place and through all new media platforms, both internet and mobile. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. Developed for the sports fan that is constantly on the move, mobileESPN enables the serious sports fan to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever before with a combination of specially produced video news clips, in-depth news coverage and analysis.

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