Marshbanks then attempted to change his approach by bodylocking Del Rosario and laboring for an upper-body takedown. The strategy did not prove fruitful, as Del Rosario was able to deliver a series of devastating knees to the body and head of Marshbanks. After softening Marshbanks up, Del Rosario delivered a vicious knee to Marshbanks' rib that potentially resulted in a fracture. Marshbanks fell to the ground and the referee quickly called a stop to the bout at 1:34 of round 1.

Following the USA East vs. USA West opener, the headline challenge fight of the night between Russia Legion and England was almost a mirror image of the matchup between the two USA team with Legion. Team England coach Ian Butlin caused quite a stir in the Russian media when he went on local television in Rostov this week and apologized in advance for his British teammates defeating the Russians on their home turf. The apology proved unncessary, with Legion defeating England by a 4-1 score.

Entering the semifinals as the heavy favorite after winning Group D with a 3-0 team record and 13-2 individual record, Legion still felt the need to make changes with talented fighters such as Rustam Khabilov, Sergey Kornev, and Gadzimurad Omarov left off of its semifinal roster.

Yura Ivlev helped Legion get off to a quick start by utlizing an impressive judo throw to ground former English Football playher Scott Hewitt and earn a TKO victory due by result of ground and pound just 54 seconds into the fight.

The second fight between Legion and England ended even quicker with highly-toughted Magomed Shikshabekov - voted the eighth best European MMA prospect by Sherdog.com - submitted knockout artist Simon Phillps with a reverse heel hook just 15 seconds into round 1. With the win, Shikshabekov's proffessional record is now 10-0 and he could be in line for a coveted spot on the second M-1 Breakthrough event, which is tentatively scheduled be held in late-2009 or early-2010.

Up 2-0, Legion punched its ticket to the finals with UFC veteran Ansar Chalangov requiring just 41 seconds to submit Matt Thorpe with a reverse heel hook. The fight was Chalangov's first since November of last year and improved his lifetime MMA record to 13-4.

Legion sent a message and secured its fourth victory in the best-of-five clash when Besiki Gerenava halted an early charge by former professional water polo player Lee Austin courtesy of a unanimous decision.

Much like USA West saving face in its heavyweight matchup, England did the same with Rob Broughton submitting Akhmed Sultanov with a keylock at 4:31 of round 1. The win came less than a month after Broughton's disappointing loss at "HDNET FIGHTS PRESENTS M-1 BREAKTHROUGH" and improved Broughton's overall record to 10-4-1 and his M-1 record to 3-1.

Fight footage of the M-1 Challenge Playoff Semifinals will be made available in the United States in coming weeks on HDNet. Be sure to check M-1Global.com and HDNetFights.com for an exact air date. M-1Global.com will also reveal the date and the venue for the second annual M-1...