Advertisement

Hose stops Baroni, claims ICON title

Jeff Cain/MMAWeekly.com

Kala Kolohe Hose defeated Phil Baroni by TKO referee stoppage in the fifth round to capture the Icon Sport middleweight title at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu on Saturday night.

At the sound of the opening bell, Baroni took Hose to the canvas with a double-leg takedown and unleashed an onslaught of ground and pound, including stomps and knees to the grounded Hose. Hose appeared to be in trouble as Baroni punished him, but the Hawaiian weathered the storm coming back to take over the final minute of round one.

As the opening stanza came to a close, Baroni looked to be fatigued. The momentum of the fight changed in the final moments of round one and it became obvious in the second round that Baroni had expended most of his energy trying to finish the fight in the first.

Baroni was able to get the fight to the ground again early in the second round, but it was all Hose from that point on. Hose nearly had a Kimura locked on, but Baroni was able to escape only to be met with punches. Action was stopped momentarily as Hose was warned by the referee for striking Baroni to the back of the head. When the action restarted, Baroni was leaning over with both hands on his knees desperately trying to catch his breath.

The third round saw Baroni come out with his hands down. He attempted a takedown, but Hose fended it off and landed a knee to Baroni's head forcing Baroni to roll over to guard. Hose dominated round three with ground and pound, standing up out of Baroni's guard to pepper his legs with kicks before diving back into Baroni's guard with punches. Round three could have easily been scored 10-8 for Hose.

In the fourth round, Hose picked up where he left off. At one point Baroni crawled under the ropes out of the ring and was deducted a point. He spent most of the round trapped on all fours working for a single-leg takedown with Hose landing kidney shot after kidney shot.

The final round began with Baroni looking as if he caught his second wind. Seconds later, Hose dropped the "New York Bad Ass" with a punch and finished him with strikes.

In other action, Ross "The Boss" Ebanez demolished Brennan Kamaka in nine seconds. Sadhu Bott won the Icon Sport 145-pound state title by armbar over former champion Bronson Pieper, and professional boxer turned mixed martial artist Jeremy Williams defeated Auggie Padeken by knockout.

RESULTS:

Kala Kolohe Hose def. Phil Baroni by TKO (punches) at 0:26, R5
Jeremy Williams def. Auggie Padeken by KO at 2:18, R1
Sadhu Bott def. Bronson Pieper by submission (armbar) at 4:41, R1
Russell Doane def. Tyson Nam by TKO (punches) at 3:51, R1
Koa Ramos def. Wayne Perrin by submission (rear naked choke) at 1:29, R1
Ross Ebanez def. Brennan Kamaka by (Corner Stoppage) at 0:09, R1
PJ Dean def. Eddie Rincon by unanimous decision at 5:00, R3
Matt Comeau def. Elias Delos Reyes by TKO (punches) at 2:35, R2
Alan Lima def. David Padilla by unanimous decision at 5:00, R3
Dwayne Haney def. Zach Rapal by submission (choke) at 2:27, R1
Ricky Wallace def. Brandon Pieper by submission (guillotine choke) at 0:37, R1
Jay Bolos def. Nui Wheeler by submission (armbar) at 1:26, R2
Kona Ke def. Micah Ige by submission (rear naked choke) at 1:45, R1