Icon Sport 48: Mayhem Vs. Lawler
 Icon Sport 48: Mayhem Vs. Lawler Held September 2, 2006 Blaisdell Arena – Honolulu, Hawaii Report by Chris Onzuka – Photos by Aaron Meyer "It" was a long time in coming. First "it" was on, then off, then on again. "It" is Robbie Lawler, the current champ, taking on Jason Miller, the man that has run through Hawaii like a hurricane. The consummate grappler took on the powerful striker. The only thing is this striker can wrestle and this grappler can take a punch. This much anticipated main event was supported by a solid under card, which crowned a Flyweight and Welterweight Icon Sport champion. Chico Cantiberos displayed crisp punches and good ground skills against the game veteran in Kevin Delima. Delima took a lot of punishment, but would not go down easy as he fought Cantiberos all the way until a well timed and placed knee sat Delima onto the canvas and Cantiberos seized the opportunity to finish the fight and be crowned Icon Sport’s first Hawaii State Flyweight champ.
Quickly rising submission machine, Sydney Silva, returned to the ring and pitted his technical ground game and solid leg kicks, against Kimo Woefel’s athleticism. Woefel reversed Silva on numerous occasions, but this allowed Silva’s active guard work to shine. Silva aggressively attacked with submissions and kept firing them off as Woefel kept defending them. It was the law of averages that ended the fight as it was only a matter of time until Silva’s persistence paid off and he caught Woefel in an armbar to end the match and be crowned Icon Sport’s Hawaii State Welterweight champion. This event also fed the pipeline by pitting some outstanding young fighters to line up the next set of contenders for the newly crowned champions. Two stars from Grappling Unlimited and Animal House were on a collision course that made for a great fight. These two young warriors went after each other and displayed poise and technique well beyond their ring experience. Albino squeaked out a decision victory, but there was definitely no loser in this fight. Number one contender for the 135lbs Icon Sport title, Mark Oshiro from the Bulls Pen, showed why he deserves the number one slot by KO’ing Paul Gorman in a mere 20 seconds. Grappling Unlimited’s other star Tyson Nam won his match and this set up a great match up between Nam and Oshiro for Icon’s December event. Another great match up came about when Jay Jack to town and dominated Mike Russo. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt matches up well with Sydney Silva. The great night of fights led up to the main event, which brought the crowd to fever pitch after viewing each fighter’s intro video on the giant screen. Lawler paced in his corner like a caged animal, while Miller came to ring dancing the whole way with a reggae theme, dreadlocks and all. The first round had everyone puzzled, Miller included as Miller landed leg and body kick at will while Lawler did not even throw a punch. The second round saw a more confident Miller pick up where he left off, but this time Lawler pulled the trigger and unleashed a fury of punches, knees and dominated Miller. It looked like Lawler was going to win via referee stoppage, but Miller kept moving and changing positions. He ended the round strong by fighting his way back up to his feet and firing back. In round three, Lawler was spent and Miller took over by taking down Lawler and doing what he does best, applying submissions. After Lawler defended an arm triangle on the right side, Miller sunk one in on the left side and captured the title by tapping out Lawler [see photo at beginning of article]. The crowd exploded with the result and it was deafening as Miller climbed up on the ropes and thanked the fans of his adopted home.
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Combat in the Cage: "Adrenaline" Report by Jim Genia – Photos by Gaby Genia
(September 2nd, Rahway, New Jersey) A mammoth amateur MMA card marked the end of a day-long USKBA multi-discipline competition, with promoter Ed Hsu opening his cage to a herd of newcomers at the Rahway Rec Center. There were slugfests and knockouts, ground wars and submissions, and the 19 bouts didn’t wrap up until 1:30am — giving fight fans plenty of bang for their buck. Highlights of the night included:
Results:
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