Icon Sport: "Hard Times" went off last night from the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Middleweight champion and local fan favorite, Kala "Kolohe" Hose was in action in a non-title bout against Rolando Dominque, and Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni also competed on the card in a 175-pound catchweight fight against Ron Verdadero.
Hose (7-2) was coming off the second loss of his career in June at Elite XC: "Return of the King" to Robert McDaniel by first round submission (rear naked choke). That contest was also a non-title affair, which led to some questions of why Hose -- who won the title from Baroni in March -- wasn't defending his belt.
He took even more flack when this fight with Dominique was announced as a non-title match, too.
For a company that stripped Robbie Lawler of the same title early this year for inactivity, it's a little strange that its allowing the title to sit idle for two fights now. It almost seems obvious that the Hawaii-based promotion just want its local hero to be the champ for as long as possible.
Regardless, Hose came away with a second round technical knockout win on Saturday night, improving his record to (7-2) with all of his wins coming via TKO.
Hopefully, the next time we see Hose in action he'll have his gold on the line.
For Baroni (12-10), this was his fourth fight this year and his third in the last three months. After losing the first two of those fights this year, "The New York Badass" decided to make the move from middleweight (185 pounds) to welterweight (170 pounds).
His debut fight at welterweight was three weeks ago at Cage Rage 27: "Step Up" against Scott Jansen. He made quick work of Jansen with a first round knockout, looking very sharp at the lighter weight.
Last night Baroni met Ron Verdadero at a catchweight of 175 pounds. And again Baroni looked good, making quick work of his opponent with another first round technical knockout.
Two wins in a row for Baroni is a nice change of pace from losing five of seven prior to that. Even though the competition wasn't exactly top notch, Baroni was a guy whose confidence was probably at an all time low before these two wins.
A-level competition or not, a win is a win, especially for Baroni, who is looking to fight is way back into some high profile fights.
There was another fight on this card with the vacant 140-pound North American title on the line between Mark Oshiro -- who is referred to as the bantamweight Chuck Liddell -- and Bao Quach -- who came in on an eight fight winning streak.
Both of these guys are local favorites for the islanders, and this was a highly anticipated match up for them. In a hard fought three round battle, Quach was able to win over the judges for a unanimous decision, pushing his streak to nine in a row.
Check out the rest of the results for Icon Sport: "Hard Times" after the jump.
Sydney Silva defeats Hideto Kondo in Round 1 by submission (arm bar)
Mario Miranda defeats Jose Diaz by technical knockout in Round 1
Eddie Rincon defeats Dean Lista by unanimous decision
Ed Newalu defeats Ricky Hoku Wallace by unanimous decision
Maui Wolfgram defeats Richard Desforge by submission (rear naked choke) in Round 1
Kyle Miyahana defeats Brewski Louis by unanimous decision
Ola Silva and Ian Dela Cuesta fight to a No Contest after Dela Cuesta could not continue after being struck by a low blow
Brad Tavares defeats Devin Kauwe by technical knockout in Round 1
Alan Lima def. Mark Tajon by Submission (Arm Bar), R2
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