Rumble On The Rock 4
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Rumble On The Rock 4 Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii October 10, 2003 By Chris Onzuka When you hear names like Royce Gracie, Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Jens Pulver and Matt Hughes, one thing comes to mind, fighters that dominated their respective divisions in MMA either past or present. Two more fighters want to have their name placed up alongside these legends, BJ Penn and Takanori Gomi. Both fighters have beaten the best of the West and the best of the East. Both fighters are coming off of disappointing results in their last fights, Gomi being handed his first loss by Joachim Hansen and Penn drawing with Caol Uno.
Not enough can be said about two fighters that want to prove to the world which one of them is the best fighter at 155lbs. Tonight they did just that. In impressive fashion, BJ Penn systematically took apart Takanori Gomi, taking him down numerous times and pounding him with punches while there. A battered, bloody Gomi finally succumbed to a rear naked choke, which satisfied Penn because he was looking to finish the fight, not leave it in the judge’s hands for a decision. Rumble On The Rock took a spectacular main event and loaded it to the hilt with one of the best undercards (at least by local standards) to support it. Some of the highlights of the evening were Banuelos looking unstoppable in his match with Yobi Song and unknown fighter, Gilbert Malendez dismantling Bozo Paling. That match would be paired up with another upset when Charuto Verissimo systematically took UFC veteran Gil Castillo apart and the quick ending to the Cooper-Hallman fight. The event was capped off by a heated "call out" session, which started when Phil Baroni said that he would knock out Falaniko Vitale. Vitale came to the octagon and that is how the fireworks started. Both exchanged insults, which ended up in both fighters offering to settle it right here, right now. Baroni even dropped his microphone and pulled off his commentating microphone. Referee Larry Landless and others kept the fighters separated. UFC President Dana White came into the ring along with co-host and New York Bad Ass, Phil Baroni and Cabbage Correira to announce their fights at the next UFC. Overall it was a well run event, with two large screens, a 30-foot octagon and video introductions and replays over the large screens. The next event promises to be bigger and better and should take place some time in January or February of next year. Super Flyweight Lightweight Welterweight Light Heavyweight Flyweight Welterweight Welterweight Heavyweight Welterweight Lightweight |
