Injury Helps Tigre Defeat “Tiger”
James Meinhardt Aug 5, 2007
HONOLULU, Hawaii, Aug. 4 -- X-1 World Events once again brought
Hawaiian fight fans a full night of mixed martial arts action at
the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, but the night was not without its
unfortunate mishaps.
In the evening's main event, Marcelo Tigre battled Vernon "Tiger" White for the X-1 light heavyweight title, but the bout was cut short when White was forced to retire from the fight after suffering a broken right hand in the first round.
"I felt it break after the first good punch I hit him with," White
said. "But I knew I had to keep going."
White scored with a knee and a number of punches to Tigre's head, which started a steady flow of blood from the Brazilian's face.
"When I pulled [my hand] away, I felt it crunch," White told Sherdog.com.
White calmly tried to inform his Brazilian opponent that he could no longer fight, and motioned for the ref, who stepped in and called a halt to the action at 1:34 of the first round.
Fan favorite Falaniko Vitale (Pictures) made short work of Steve Renaud (Pictures) in the co-main event, connecting with a straight right hand to the head that sent him crashing to the floor.
Niko quickly followed up, landing three more punches as Renaud turned his back and covered up to avoid more damage. Renaud was tapping from the punishment as the referee stepped in to call the fight just 43 seconds into the bout.
After the fight, Vitale, who is donating his purse money to charity, made note of his life's work of helping at-risk and troubled youths in Hawaii, and thanked everyone for coming to the event and helping his cause.
Vitale's donation, along with a portion of the event's proceeds, will help Central Pacific Youth Inc. to build a facility in Niko's hometown on Oahu's west side.
In a highly-anticipated rematch of their 2006 X-1 welterweight title match, local rivals Ross Ebanez (Pictures) and Mark Moreno (Pictures) put on a great show in the first of three scheduled rounds, only to have the bout come to a crashing halt in the second.
"Mark [Moreno] had Ross [Ebanez] in a guillotine and was falling through the ropes," referee George Adkins told to Sherdog.com after the bout. "I yelled stop and put my hands on both fighters. Ross started getting up and Mark hipped in and threw Ross to his back and landed at least one solid shot to Ebanez's left cheek bone."
"We fell through the ropes and I didn't hear the ref stop it, so I kept going," Moreno claimed after the fight. "I hit him. It didn't really hurt him, but he pretended he was knocked out on the ground. I just know he pretty much didn't want to continue because he was on his way to getting knocked out anyway."
The bout was stopped and officially called a No contest, a ruling that didn't sit well with Ebanez's corner.
The ensuing confusion led to an argument between Ebanez's B.J. Penn (Pictures) MMA camp and Moreno and his Bull's Pen fight team. Luckily no other fights broke out, though members of both corners did rush into the ring.
"There's no bad blood between me and him on my end," Ebanez told Sherdog.com. "We can [fight] again."
Some truly unique matchmaking made way for some interesting fights, as Hawaii's own Wolff brothers took on the Nahiwawa brothers, identical twins from the mainland.
Interestingly enough, the fights themselves also looked eerily similar, as the Wolff brothers took down their counter-parts and pounded away for referee stoppages.
Brenton Wolff (Pictures) stopped Bu Nahiwawa with strikes from the mount at 2:24 of the first round, while brother Brandon Wolff (Pictures) worked from back- and side-control to stop Shu Nahiwawa with one minute and 58-seconds left in the first round.
The Ultimate Fighter alumni Tait Fletcher (Pictures) edged out Auggie Padeken (Pictures) via split decision in his first mixed martial arts fight since appearing on the popular reality series.
Fletcher scored with vicious knees from the clinch in what was primarily a stand-up fight, but found himself in trouble on occasion when Padeken found his range and scored from the outside with punches.
After the completion of the scheduled two five-minute rounds, the fight was scored a draw and moved into a three-minute overtime period.
The final round saw much of the same high-paced action, with both fighters showing a lot of heart as the bout wore on.
When the fight ended, it was Fletcher who won on the majority of the judges' scorecards, but as Fletcher's cornerman Joey Villasenor (Pictures) sounded after the bout, "There's no loser in this fight."
The night was also host to Hawaii's first open-weight tournament. Eight fighters ranging in weight from 145 to 233-pounds squared off in one five-minute round fights, each with an optional second three-minute round if the first was ruled a draw.
Michael Brightmon made an impressive professional debut, dominating each round of the tournament to win the title.
In the tournament's opening round, Brightmon faced the undersized Cory Gifford, who despite a sizeable weight disadvantage held his own against the larger opponent. Ultimately, Brightmon's size and strength proved to be too much as he out-hustled Gifford to win a decision.
Also in the opening round, Derek Thornton submitted Robin Clark with a well-executed triangle choke from the bottom and Chris Bernard overwhelmed Kimo Lani with strikes to move onto the semifinals.
In the final match of the opening round, Maui Wolfgram out-pointed Andre Shaolin in an overtime period, but was unable to continue in the tournament due to a rib injury he suffered in the fight.
Brightmon progressed into the finals by defeating Derek Thornton via a decision after going to an overtime period. Replacement Andre Shaolin, continuing in place of the injured Wolfgram, also worked his way into the finals when he forced Chris Bernard to tapout after securing a guillotine choke in the first round.
In the finals, Brightmon again displayed his impressive strength, controlling the Brazilian fighter and pounding his way to a unanimous decision victory after the first five-minute round.
In the evening's main event, Marcelo Tigre battled Vernon "Tiger" White for the X-1 light heavyweight title, but the bout was cut short when White was forced to retire from the fight after suffering a broken right hand in the first round.
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White scored with a knee and a number of punches to Tigre's head, which started a steady flow of blood from the Brazilian's face.
After a temporary stop in action to inspect a potential broken
nose, Tigre scored a takedown only to have it reversed by White,
who worked from the guard before Tigre was able to tie up his
hands.
"When I pulled [my hand] away, I felt it crunch," White told Sherdog.com.
White calmly tried to inform his Brazilian opponent that he could no longer fight, and motioned for the ref, who stepped in and called a halt to the action at 1:34 of the first round.
Fan favorite Falaniko Vitale (Pictures) made short work of Steve Renaud (Pictures) in the co-main event, connecting with a straight right hand to the head that sent him crashing to the floor.
Niko quickly followed up, landing three more punches as Renaud turned his back and covered up to avoid more damage. Renaud was tapping from the punishment as the referee stepped in to call the fight just 43 seconds into the bout.
After the fight, Vitale, who is donating his purse money to charity, made note of his life's work of helping at-risk and troubled youths in Hawaii, and thanked everyone for coming to the event and helping his cause.
Vitale's donation, along with a portion of the event's proceeds, will help Central Pacific Youth Inc. to build a facility in Niko's hometown on Oahu's west side.
In a highly-anticipated rematch of their 2006 X-1 welterweight title match, local rivals Ross Ebanez (Pictures) and Mark Moreno (Pictures) put on a great show in the first of three scheduled rounds, only to have the bout come to a crashing halt in the second.
"Mark [Moreno] had Ross [Ebanez] in a guillotine and was falling through the ropes," referee George Adkins told to Sherdog.com after the bout. "I yelled stop and put my hands on both fighters. Ross started getting up and Mark hipped in and threw Ross to his back and landed at least one solid shot to Ebanez's left cheek bone."
"We fell through the ropes and I didn't hear the ref stop it, so I kept going," Moreno claimed after the fight. "I hit him. It didn't really hurt him, but he pretended he was knocked out on the ground. I just know he pretty much didn't want to continue because he was on his way to getting knocked out anyway."
The bout was stopped and officially called a No contest, a ruling that didn't sit well with Ebanez's corner.
The ensuing confusion led to an argument between Ebanez's B.J. Penn (Pictures) MMA camp and Moreno and his Bull's Pen fight team. Luckily no other fights broke out, though members of both corners did rush into the ring.
"There's no bad blood between me and him on my end," Ebanez told Sherdog.com. "We can [fight] again."
Some truly unique matchmaking made way for some interesting fights, as Hawaii's own Wolff brothers took on the Nahiwawa brothers, identical twins from the mainland.
Interestingly enough, the fights themselves also looked eerily similar, as the Wolff brothers took down their counter-parts and pounded away for referee stoppages.
Brenton Wolff (Pictures) stopped Bu Nahiwawa with strikes from the mount at 2:24 of the first round, while brother Brandon Wolff (Pictures) worked from back- and side-control to stop Shu Nahiwawa with one minute and 58-seconds left in the first round.
The Ultimate Fighter alumni Tait Fletcher (Pictures) edged out Auggie Padeken (Pictures) via split decision in his first mixed martial arts fight since appearing on the popular reality series.
Fletcher scored with vicious knees from the clinch in what was primarily a stand-up fight, but found himself in trouble on occasion when Padeken found his range and scored from the outside with punches.
After the completion of the scheduled two five-minute rounds, the fight was scored a draw and moved into a three-minute overtime period.
The final round saw much of the same high-paced action, with both fighters showing a lot of heart as the bout wore on.
When the fight ended, it was Fletcher who won on the majority of the judges' scorecards, but as Fletcher's cornerman Joey Villasenor (Pictures) sounded after the bout, "There's no loser in this fight."
The night was also host to Hawaii's first open-weight tournament. Eight fighters ranging in weight from 145 to 233-pounds squared off in one five-minute round fights, each with an optional second three-minute round if the first was ruled a draw.
Michael Brightmon made an impressive professional debut, dominating each round of the tournament to win the title.
In the tournament's opening round, Brightmon faced the undersized Cory Gifford, who despite a sizeable weight disadvantage held his own against the larger opponent. Ultimately, Brightmon's size and strength proved to be too much as he out-hustled Gifford to win a decision.
Also in the opening round, Derek Thornton submitted Robin Clark with a well-executed triangle choke from the bottom and Chris Bernard overwhelmed Kimo Lani with strikes to move onto the semifinals.
In the final match of the opening round, Maui Wolfgram out-pointed Andre Shaolin in an overtime period, but was unable to continue in the tournament due to a rib injury he suffered in the fight.
Brightmon progressed into the finals by defeating Derek Thornton via a decision after going to an overtime period. Replacement Andre Shaolin, continuing in place of the injured Wolfgram, also worked his way into the finals when he forced Chris Bernard to tapout after securing a guillotine choke in the first round.
In the finals, Brightmon again displayed his impressive strength, controlling the Brazilian fighter and pounding his way to a unanimous decision victory after the first five-minute round.
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