ESPN Star Sports has officially announced the debut of MARTIAL COMBAT for May 12th and 13th, to be held at the brand new Resorts World Sentosa on the island of Sentosa in Singapore.
ESPN STAR Sports Announces May Fight Card for Resorts World™ Sentosa Martial Combat
– World Champions Ole Laursen and Leandro Issa Confirmed To Fight –
29 March 2010, Singapore: Asia’s top sports content provider, ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), today announced the official May 12-13, 2010 Fight Card for Resorts World™ Sentosa Martial Combat – Asia’s Ultimate Mixed Martial Arts Fight Championship.
Organised by ESS, the MARTIAL COMBAT May fight card will showcase a total of ten thrilling matches with two fights each month from May through October at the Compass Ballroom of Singapore’s first integrated resort, Resorts World Sentosa. Each night will feature a SuperFight Championship Belt fight as the main event.
Headlining the May 12 fight card will be former World Kickboxing Champion, Muay Thai Kings World Cup Champion, and one of the most respected fighters in Asia – Ole “Iron Fist” Laursen. “Iron Fist” will wage battle against the Brazilian sensation Eduardo “The EduCator” Pachu.
Also confirmed is 11-year fight veteran and Brazillian Ju Jitsu Mundial World Champion Leandro Issa. Issa currently calls Singapore home and is training out of the prestigious Evolve Mixed Martial Arts Gym under the legendary instructor and Mundials BJJ Black Belt World Champion Rafael “Gordinho” Lima. Issa will face China’s top-ranked MMA fighter Yun Jiang Long.
The May 13th main event and SuperFight Championship will showcase Singapore’s very own MMA sensation – Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson. “The Dragon” brings a string of 16 international wins and has earned a reputation at a talented fight tactician. He will be facing Taiwanese undisputed and reigning three-year Sanda Champion (since 2008) Zhang Jing Xong.
Resorts World™ Sentosa Martial Combat is the largest and most prestigious MMA series in the region. It will receive an unprecedented amount of television coverage from ESS in excess of 60 hours, making it the largest MMA broadcast in Asia. This will be the first-ever MMA event to date to receive television coverage in 24 different countries in Asia, extensive online support through www.espnstar.com and mobile initiatives through mobileESPN. The competition is held in a custom built, safety reinforced, round shaped cage similar to other MMA events held around the world. Over the last 15 years, the cage competition arena has proven to be one of the safest and most exciting ways to showcase this action-packed sport.
Payout Perspective:
You may remember our previous coverage of Martial Combat. Essentially ESPN Star Sports is one of Asia’s top sports networks and Resorts World Sentosa is a $6 billion resort project being built on the island of Sentosa (just off of mainland Singapore). The partnership was formed to develop Martial Combat as an attraction for the resort, as well as a source of television content for ESPN.
The event is a two-day affair, which features mostly Asian fighters. Plans are currently in the works to hold further weekend events, once per month, from June through to October.
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It’s really tough to say what this event is going to turn into.
At the very least, Martial Combat is a live MMA event being held in a wealthy country with a strong marital arts background; it’s thought of as an attraction, not a side show. Moreover, it’s additional MMA television content for the region; a market which many are hoping will blossom, based upon its steeped tradition in martial arts, into an MMA hotbed.
However, given the sheer size of resources behind the venture, it’s possible Martial Combat could develop into a regional player of sorts over the next couple of years. We’ll reserve judgement until the promotion actually holds its first event and we get an indication of the attendance, gate, television response, and other indicators of success/failure.
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