by Ken Yates
Unorthodox Industries Championships held there 5th event this past Saturday in beautiful Hilo,Hawaii, and fighters from all over the Hawaiian Islands showed up to test their skills inside of the cage. In the Main event it was 217 Pound Kris Palea from Hilo taking on the highly experienced Pama Fuga from Team Average Joe’s of Kailua-Kona. Although Fuga has not fought in over three years, you sure could not tell by the way he was putting his punches together, and staying quick on his feet. Palea showed that he to came into this fight well prepared, staying calm and defending Fuga’s punches, while scoring on numerous take downs.In the end it was Palea taking Fuga down with a double leg take down working onto full mount position and ending the fight with some nice ground and pound, forcing Referee Chris West to step in 3:49 in the second round. This was Palea’s Professional Debut and with a win over a seasoned Veteran like Fuga, he looks like a fighter to keep a eye on in the future.
In the nights Co-Main event it was the former UIC 135lbs Amateur Champion and Nova-Uniao/Monsta MMA pupil “Rootless” Daniel Friend matched up against the former X-1 135lbs Amateur Champion and 808 Top Team student Louis Smolka in their Professional Debut. This was one of the night most technical bouts, yet there were moments when it turned into an all out brawl. For three rounds both fighters gave it their all. Daniel scored with some powerful leg kicks to the body and some crazy combinations, while Louis also impressed with his nice in and out punches and well put together take downs. Daniel edged out the win, with a very close Decision but the fight was so close that I see a re-match brewing in the near future.
In maybe the nights most anticipated bout it was the UIC 125lbs Champion, Keenan Cohen taking on the number one contender Ryan Tampon. Keenan who coincidentally holds four Different titles in four different Promotions actually wrestled against Tampon in High School. In the opening round both fighters came out strong and looked pretty even until with 30 seconds left in the round Keenan locked on a Triangle Choke that looked tight, but Ryan stayed calm and picked Keenan up and slammed him on his back. From there Ryan started to work his ground and pound until the bell sounded. In the second round after a quick scramble Keenan turned the tide and got Ryan to his back, worked until he he had full mount position, sunk in his hooks and proceeded to ground and pound him until the Referee was forced to step in and call a stop to the action at 2:34 in the second round. With this win Keenan now improves his record to 8-0 and a total of 4 Amateur belts to his credit.
In other bouts:
Miles Campbell Def Shane Nozaki via: Decision ***155 pound Title Fight***
Jirah Torres-Umi Def Keola Arakaki via: First round TKO Ref Stoppage “Strikes”:49
Pono Kuikahi Def Kris Acang via: Second round TKO Ref Stoppage “Strikes” 1:27
Kapono “Bone” Pali Def Cassius Kegler via: First round KO 2:37
Bruen Tavares Def Javin Santos via decision
Reed Akashi Def Junior Casem via decision
Keith Brewer Def Jesley Sanitan via decision
Bronson Barrozo Def Anthony Brigoli via second round TKO Ref Stoppage “Strikes” 2:10
