Claire clinches Resorts World Sentosa Martial Combat First Women’s Title
Jul 14, 2010
(PRESS RELEASE) -- Resorts World Sentosa Martial Combat 5 featured
its first ever women’s fight and provided another fantastic night
of mixed martial arts action that saw Claire Haigh of England
emerging victorious against Sun Jiau of China in a frantic see-saw
battle tonight.
The pair made history as the inaugural female fight of Asia’s biggest Mixed Martial Arts championship. The audience at Resorts World Sentosa was treated to an evening of non-stop action from two of the best female mixed martial artists in the region. Currently based in Phuket, Haigh is one of the best female Muay Thai fighters in the world, and the veteran of MMA fights in Australia and Thailand has held world titles at two separate weight categories. Meanwhile, Sun is a national Sanda champion and an accomplished wrestler, which made for an intriguing clash of styles.
The two exchanged explosive attacks in the first round with Haigh
landing a kick and right hook early, followed by Sun countering
with kicks to the lower body. Haigh managed to secure a Muay Thai
clinch and landed some knees, while she continued to be the
aggressor throughout the round. The bout went into ground fighting
with Haigh securing the takedown late in the round and swiftly
moved from side control to mount, but the round finished before she
can do any real damage.
In round two Haigh secured a takedown early and took Jiao’s back, but did not manage to finish her opponent with a rear naked choke. They got to their feet with Haigh stalking her opponent but landing several key punches before wearing Sun down with another Muay Thai clinch and several devastating straight knees before the round finished. By the third round it appeared that the body blows were taking its toll on Sun. Haigh then took the fight to the floor and mounted her opponent while landing a series of brutal elbows causing the referee to step in and stop the fight with 1.30 minutes left.
Said Haigh of her win: “I was really happy winning my second career MMA fight, and my total respect for my opponent as she really put up a great challenge tonight. I thought I managed to control the fight with my Muay Thai experience, as I could feel that she was beginning to tire towards the end of the second round. I started to get the timings of her attacks better as the fight progressed, and she didn’t seemed to be strong on ground fighting positions; I took advantage of her fatigue and finished the fight.
“The Martial Combat has been a great experience in Singapore, and the fighters have been treated really well, compared to the competitions back in Thailand. I’ll certainly be back again if I get invited.”
Sun reflected on the fight by saying that she didn’t have enough Jiu-Jitsu experience and lost out to Haigh because of her inexperience. She said: “I didn’t manage to get the result I wanted. I had a few strong blows and could match her standing up. But her upper body strength was overwhelming when the fight went to the ground, and her strength and endurance beat me.”
Cheered on by an enthusiastic sell-out crowd, tonight’s other contest in the Superfight Championship Belt Showdown proved to be another crowd pleaser. Highly rated Filipino fighter Eduard Folayang continued his successful streak tonight and lived up to his billing with a victory against Mongolian Bao She Ri Gu Leng.
Folayang is one of the best fighters to emerge from the Philippines while his opponent, nicknamed the Warlord, was also undefeated with five wins out of five and Asian pride was on the line at Resorts World Sentosa.
Any doubts over warlords credentials are swiftly dispelled as the two exchanged a very technical opening round on their feet. This is clearly a well matched fight between two extremely proficient MMA practitioners but Bao was getting the better of the opening exchanges. Folayang was keen to take the fight to the floor because Bao appeared to have an early advantage on his feet. Bao managed to land a huge right hand that rocked and clearly hurt the Filipino, but took a gamble to secure a vital takedown and started to land some ground and pound.
Folayang appeared to have slightly more left in the gas tank in the fourth round and after a flurry of exchanges, he was able to take Bao down again and land some ground and pound. All three judges awarded the contest to Folayang, but much credit goes to Bao for making it such an entertaining contest. In being crowned the Martial Combat 5 Superfight Champion Folayang demonstrated that not only does he have the necessary technique to be a top fighter, but also the heart.
Always humble Folayang admitted afterwards that he had much work to do: “I had a tough fight tonight, he was very quick. My last night was only a month ago so my conditioning is still good, but I still have a lot of room for improvement. Every round I persisted to win, and in the fourth round I knew I would win it. I was more prepared in this fight because I was able to execute my technique well. I am proud that so many Filipino people came to see me fight and I would like to thank them all.”
The opening contest of the night was a three-round war of attrition between Kian Pham from Vietnam and Jiang Long Yun from China. Jiang was the slightly more effective fighter throughout the fight, consistently picking Pham apart with a series of well timed punches. Pham managed to get a couple of takedowns which was enough to convince one of the judges to score a draw but the other two gave the win to Jiang by majority decision.
Bill Saures faced a considerable size disadvantage against the enormous South Korean Joon Soo Lim in a heavyweight contest. Joon, a huge crowd favourite in Singapore, had all the demeanor of a gentle giant and at one point, paused the fight to help his opponent up to the amusement of spectators. It proved to be a prudent decision as once the fighters were standing Joon wasted little time in knocking Saures out.
Local favourite Leandro Issa easily dispensed Ramsey Dewey with a first round submission win coming by way of Kimura. This is the second Martial Combat win in quick succession for the highly rated Brazilian submission specialist.
Mixed martial arts fans can expect even more hard-hitting action in Martial Combat 6 tomorrow with another female bout between China’s Yang Xiao Nan and Filippino Gina Iniong, before the main event between American Ray Elbe and Alan Fernandes of India in the Superfight Championship Belt fight 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.
The pair made history as the inaugural female fight of Asia’s biggest Mixed Martial Arts championship. The audience at Resorts World Sentosa was treated to an evening of non-stop action from two of the best female mixed martial artists in the region. Currently based in Phuket, Haigh is one of the best female Muay Thai fighters in the world, and the veteran of MMA fights in Australia and Thailand has held world titles at two separate weight categories. Meanwhile, Sun is a national Sanda champion and an accomplished wrestler, which made for an intriguing clash of styles.
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In round two Haigh secured a takedown early and took Jiao’s back, but did not manage to finish her opponent with a rear naked choke. They got to their feet with Haigh stalking her opponent but landing several key punches before wearing Sun down with another Muay Thai clinch and several devastating straight knees before the round finished. By the third round it appeared that the body blows were taking its toll on Sun. Haigh then took the fight to the floor and mounted her opponent while landing a series of brutal elbows causing the referee to step in and stop the fight with 1.30 minutes left.
It was a back and forth war which captured the imagination of the
Resorts World Sentosa Crowd and was a fantastic endorsement for
female MMA fights. Both fighters played their part in what was
undoubtedly the fight of the night.
Said Haigh of her win: “I was really happy winning my second career MMA fight, and my total respect for my opponent as she really put up a great challenge tonight. I thought I managed to control the fight with my Muay Thai experience, as I could feel that she was beginning to tire towards the end of the second round. I started to get the timings of her attacks better as the fight progressed, and she didn’t seemed to be strong on ground fighting positions; I took advantage of her fatigue and finished the fight.
“The Martial Combat has been a great experience in Singapore, and the fighters have been treated really well, compared to the competitions back in Thailand. I’ll certainly be back again if I get invited.”
Sun reflected on the fight by saying that she didn’t have enough Jiu-Jitsu experience and lost out to Haigh because of her inexperience. She said: “I didn’t manage to get the result I wanted. I had a few strong blows and could match her standing up. But her upper body strength was overwhelming when the fight went to the ground, and her strength and endurance beat me.”
Cheered on by an enthusiastic sell-out crowd, tonight’s other contest in the Superfight Championship Belt Showdown proved to be another crowd pleaser. Highly rated Filipino fighter Eduard Folayang continued his successful streak tonight and lived up to his billing with a victory against Mongolian Bao She Ri Gu Leng.
Folayang is one of the best fighters to emerge from the Philippines while his opponent, nicknamed the Warlord, was also undefeated with five wins out of five and Asian pride was on the line at Resorts World Sentosa.
Any doubts over warlords credentials are swiftly dispelled as the two exchanged a very technical opening round on their feet. This is clearly a well matched fight between two extremely proficient MMA practitioners but Bao was getting the better of the opening exchanges. Folayang was keen to take the fight to the floor because Bao appeared to have an early advantage on his feet. Bao managed to land a huge right hand that rocked and clearly hurt the Filipino, but took a gamble to secure a vital takedown and started to land some ground and pound.
Folayang appeared to have slightly more left in the gas tank in the fourth round and after a flurry of exchanges, he was able to take Bao down again and land some ground and pound. All three judges awarded the contest to Folayang, but much credit goes to Bao for making it such an entertaining contest. In being crowned the Martial Combat 5 Superfight Champion Folayang demonstrated that not only does he have the necessary technique to be a top fighter, but also the heart.
Always humble Folayang admitted afterwards that he had much work to do: “I had a tough fight tonight, he was very quick. My last night was only a month ago so my conditioning is still good, but I still have a lot of room for improvement. Every round I persisted to win, and in the fourth round I knew I would win it. I was more prepared in this fight because I was able to execute my technique well. I am proud that so many Filipino people came to see me fight and I would like to thank them all.”
The opening contest of the night was a three-round war of attrition between Kian Pham from Vietnam and Jiang Long Yun from China. Jiang was the slightly more effective fighter throughout the fight, consistently picking Pham apart with a series of well timed punches. Pham managed to get a couple of takedowns which was enough to convince one of the judges to score a draw but the other two gave the win to Jiang by majority decision.
Bill Saures faced a considerable size disadvantage against the enormous South Korean Joon Soo Lim in a heavyweight contest. Joon, a huge crowd favourite in Singapore, had all the demeanor of a gentle giant and at one point, paused the fight to help his opponent up to the amusement of spectators. It proved to be a prudent decision as once the fighters were standing Joon wasted little time in knocking Saures out.
Local favourite Leandro Issa easily dispensed Ramsey Dewey with a first round submission win coming by way of Kimura. This is the second Martial Combat win in quick succession for the highly rated Brazilian submission specialist.
Mixed martial arts fans can expect even more hard-hitting action in Martial Combat 6 tomorrow with another female bout between China’s Yang Xiao Nan and Filippino Gina Iniong, before the main event between American Ray Elbe and Alan Fernandes of India in the Superfight Championship Belt fight 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.
