Icon Sport Hawaii returns with 'Hard Times' August 2

by James Iannotti on Jul 11, 2008 9:54 PM EDT

Icon Sport recently announced its next event, "Hard Times," which is slated for August 2 at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. As we reported a couple days ago, the company's middleweight champion, Kala "Kolohe" Hose (6-2), will face Rolando Dominique in a non-title fight at a 180-pound catchweight.

The 140-pound North American title, however, will be on the line as the 135 pound champ, Mark Oshiro (11-1) -- often referred to as the "Bantamweight Chuck Liddell" -- will take on Bao Quach (14-8-1) for the vacant strap. Quach hasn't lost since November of 2006 and has reeled off an impressive eight fight win streak.

Both guys are super-explosive and both are loved by the Hawaiian fans. This one will be a treat for those who make it out to the Blaisdell Arena that night.

There will also be a 170-pound state title put up for grabs. Hard-hitting BJ Penn trainee, Ross "The Boss" Ebanez (18-6), will vie for the gold against undefeated submission artist, Keoni Bryant (3-0).

The belt was made vacant after champion Sidney Silva (6-2) decided to drop down to the 160-pound weight class. Speaking of Silva, he'll also be in action on this card. He'll fight Hideto Kondo. This fight will be the 18-year-old Kondo's debut ... and a stiff test at that against the former welterweight champ.

Kondo will have his training partner Hayato "Mach" Sakurai in his corner for this fight. There's some buzz surrounding this kid. This will be an interesting fight for sure.

Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni (10-10) will also be in action at "Hard Times." He'll scrap with Ron Verdadero (3-5) at a catchweight of 175 pounds. Baroni is at least staying busy lately. This will be his fourth fight in 2008 and second in less than a month.

This looks like a really good show so far with a ton of action-packed fights. There's no word on if it will be aired on Showtime or any other channel, but we'll let you know if any more news involving that comes out.

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I’ll have to remeber not to watch it!

by the_mexicutioner on Jul 11, 2008 10:11 PM EDT reply actions

“Baroni is at least staying busy lately. This will be his fourth fight in 2008 and second in less than a month.”

Well if you’re getting TKO’d as fast as he is, then you’ll have plenty of time to get KTFO again. :D

by Sean_M on Jul 11, 2008 11:24 PM EDT reply actions

He’s just getting checks from any idiot that will pay him to show up and take a dive. The guy is a bum.

by the_mexicutioner on Jul 12, 2008 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions

Shouldn’t he be taking time off to recover, train and (heaven help)IMPROVE? As I am not a trained fighter, how does this work? One would think he hasn’t had time to work on his skills so that his fights will last longer than his entrances.

by chefdaddy on Jul 12, 2008 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Can’t wait to see Silva fight again

by Hawaii wahine on Jul 12, 2008 12:52 AM EDT reply actions

Mark Oshiro is a fckn beast.. He belongs in the WEC.

by pUniSHment on Jul 12, 2008 2:11 AM EDT reply actions

cant wait for the moke action and dirtyness to begin!

by HOWaiianFapOut on Jul 12, 2008 2:41 AM EDT reply actions

wait.. another non title fight for Hose? is he ever going to defend the title?

by kitsunex on Jul 12, 2008 3:04 AM EDT reply actions

No, they are afraid he will lose it.

by the_mexicutioner on Jul 12, 2008 6:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Hose hasn’t defended his title yet because in ICON which is affiliated with and not Elite XC (his last fight was for Elite XC) the fighters deserving of a title shot like Lawler is busy doing other fights. I think that is what ICON is waiting for Hose vs. Lawler.

by ujusdontknow on Jul 20, 2008 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions