Garden Island Kauai Cage article

Dennis Fujimoto

and Paul C. Curtis

the garden island



Eben Kaneshiro took out Bronson Pieper just 45 seconds into the first round with a guillotine choke at the Kaua‘i Cage Match VIII event, Saturday night, that played out under rain, cold and wind at Hanapepe Stadium.

The Kaneshiro match was the featured event in the 150-pound class in the mixed martial arts (MMA) division. Kaneshiro, now living in Portland, Ore., is an ‘Oma‘o native whose parents still live in ‘Oma‘o.

Sergio Hurtado of Boars Nest and Shane Kahananui of Kaua‘i, a heavy crowd favorite during the Friday night weigh-in at Kukui Grove Center, each won their MMA matches by unanimous decision, Hurtado taking Adam Rivera of Team Hakuilua in the 125-pound class, and Kahananui of Kaua‘i Technical Institute (KTI) taking Jon Bernard of God’s Army in the 145-pound class.

Nainoa Dung of Da Hui/O2 Martial Arts, the winner of a previous Kaua‘i Cage match, earned the 70-pound Amateur Youth Kickboxing Title with a TKO, or technical knock-out, against Lokahi Morante of HMC. The referee stopped the match in the first round after Morante could not continue, according to information provided by bout co-promoter Vance Pascua.

DJ Bozu of HMC Kickboxing of Honolulu earned a judges’ decision in his match against Duane Silva of Disciples of Puhi in the 170-pound kickboxing event, and Ezekiel Lopes of HMC followed with a unanimous decision over Jeff Hildago Buragat of Disciples of Puhi in the open class kickboxing event.

Tyler Kobayashi of HMC continued to reap wins for the blue card with a decision over Erickson Abalos of Disciples of Puhi in the 145 kickboxing event.

Waylan Mata of Bulls Pen took the 145-pound MMA match against Josh Dubois of Kaua‘i (fighting freelance) with a rear neck choke tapout 1:44 in the third round, and Glen Daguio of KTI got the red-card win on a decision over Domenick Ansagay of Kaua‘i (also fighting freelance, or unattached to any club) in the 130-pound MMA class.

Randall Silva of KTI picked up another win for the red card in the 180-pound MMA class with a rear neck choke that came at the 1:12 mark in the first round against Mike Soloman of Bulls Pen.

Colin Mackenzie of God’s Army and Justin Konia of HMC thrilled the audience in an exhibition showdown in the 155-pound weight class with the island’s first live look at a Triple Threat Match, wherein the first round is limited to kickboxing, the second round involves adding boxing gloves and headgear, and the third round involves full-on MMA moves and action.

“I really want to thank all the fans for all the support and hanging in there despite the weather conditions,” said Pascua, the event organizer. “It really shows the Kaua‘i spirit.”

He estimates a crowd of over 2,000 people braved the elements, and said there were long enough periods of favorable weather during the evening so that all the bouts could be completed, in between heavy rain showers that sent many fans for cover.

“They came to support the fighters. The whole community comes together,” Pascua added. “Kaua‘i fans are good.”

He would not speculate about when fans could expect Kaua‘i Cage Match IX.