Baroni Loses Tough Battle for Icon Belt

Originally posted by MMAjunkie.com Staff [mmajunkie-staff] on Mar 16, 2008 at 1:05 am in

- News -

Hawaii's popular ICON Sport promotion has a new middleweight champ as local slugger Kala Kolohe Hose (6-1) scored an upset of former UFC and PRIDE fighter Phil Baroni (10-9) at Saturday's "ICON: To Hell and Back" event.

The fifth-round TKO took place in the night's main event at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. The event was streamed live on ProElite.com.

Takedowns, followed by ground and pound, worked wonders for Baroni early in the fight, but Hose's endurance and conditioning proved the deciding factors. With Baroni bloodied, battered and winded, Hose forced the TKO stoppage 24 seconds into the fifth round.

With the victory, Hose earned the ICON middleweight belt. And it was a long time coming. The title was was stripped from former champ Robbie Lawler last month after three previously scheduled fights with Hose were scratched due to injuries suffered by Lawler.

Baroni dominated much of the first round thanks to double-leg takedowns with ground and pound from sidemount. He also did some damage early in the second round with stomps and soccer kicks. However, with each passing round, the shots became slower, and Hose began to set the pace. By the fourth round, he was on the prowl -- so much so that Baroni was deducted a point for trying to escape the ring to avoid Hose's blows.

Early in the fifth, Hose sent Baroni to the canvas with a big hook, and a barrage of kicks and punches forced the stoppage just seconds later.

With the loss, Baroni drops to 10-9 and has now lost three of his past four fights.

Meanwhile, the victory, undoubtedly the biggest of his career, gives Hose his sixth consecutive win -- all by way of
knockout.

The full results included:

Kala Kolohe Hose def. Phil Baroni via KO (strikes ) -- Round 5, 0:26
Jeremy Williams def. Augie Padekan via KO (strikes) -- Round 1, 2:18
Sadhu Bott vs. Bronson Pieper via submission (armbar) -- Round 1, 4:41
Russell Doane def. Tyson Nam via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1, 3:53
Koa Ramos def. Wayne Perrin III via submission (rear-naked choke) -- Round 1, 1:29
Ross Ebanez def. Brennan Kamaka via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1 :09
P.J. Dean def. Eddie Rincon via unanimous decision
Matt Comeau def Elias DeLos Reyes via TKO (strikes) -- Round 2, 2:35
Alan Lima def. David Padilla unanimous decision
Dwayne Haney def. Zack Rapal via submission (front choke) -- Round 1, 2:27
Ricky Wallace def. Brandon Pieper via submission (guillotine c) -- Round 1, 0:37
Jay Bolos def Nui Wheeler via submission (armbar) -- Round 2, 1:26
Kona Ke def. Micah Ige via submission (rear-naked choke) -- Round 1, 1:45