MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Butterbean knocked Cabbage backward during last night's main event at the Blaisdell Arena.
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Trigg, Butterbean win
Frank Trigg showed why he is now the man to beat in the Rumble on the Rock Welterweight Grand Prix.
The man known as "twinkle toes" went toe-to-toe with Ronald "Machine Gun" Jhun for 15 minutes before winning a unanimous decision in last night's Rumble on the Rock 8 event at Blaisdell Arena. A crowd of around 8,000 also watched as Eric "Butterbean" Esch defeated Wesley "Cabbage" Correira by TKO after Cabbage's corner threw in the towel on advice of the ringside doctor. Cabbage had his right arm broken in the first round but lasted until the end of the second.
Trigg's victory was his first since beating Renato "Charuto" Verissimo in October 2004.
"As everyone knows, I've lost my last two fights, so I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to win this tournament," Trigg said.
Trigg, who before the fight said that he would retire if he lost to Jhun, is now a heavy favorite to win the welterweight tournament after upsets of Charuto and Anderson Silva.
"I'm kind of confused as to what is going to happen the rest of the tournament," Trigg said. "I wanted to fight Charuto again and that's not going to happen. I wanted to fight Anderson Silva and that ain't happening either."
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Frank Trigg, right, avoided a punch by Ron Jhun last night. Trigg went on to win the bout by unanimous decision.
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Trigg spent the majority of the first round on top of Jhun, using the ground-and-pound technique to wear him down. But Jhun answered with an armbar attempt in the final 20 seconds that nearly forced Trigg to tap out, but Trigg was saved by the bell.
With the fight in Trigg's favor, Jhun nailed Trigg with a big right hand late in the final round, but Trigg answered with a slam and stayed on top of Jhun as the fight ended.
"Twinkle toes" will now likely fight Carlos Condit in the semifinals on April 7 at Blaisdell Arena after Condit (14-2) stunned Verissimo by knockout in just 17 seconds. The 2004 Shooto Champion caught Charuto (5-3) shooting in almost immediately after the fight started with a knee and rained down punches before the referee stopped the fight.
In the first fight of the night that lasted past the first round, 2004 Shooto Champion Jake Shields defeated Minnesota's Dave Menne by unanimous decision. Shields scored big in rounds one and three, and nearly ended the fight by rear naked choke late in the final round.
The win moves Shields into a likely semifinal matchup with Japan's Yushin Okami, who won the opening tournament fight in controversial fashion, upsetting Brazil's Silva by disqualification.
Silva (13-4), who entered the tournament as the fourth-ranked welterweight in the world, was disqualified after an illegal kick to the head. Okami (14-2) was on both knees trying to punch a grounded Silva, who struck Okami in the face. Okami was given time to recover but was clearly out on his feet, forcing the referee to disqualify Silva. Kicks to the head of a grounded opponent are illegal in Rumble on the Rock.
In the three opening fights, Kengro Ura (4-3) of Japan defeated Hawaii's Mike Malone (1-5) by tapout due to an ankle lock at 1:36 of the first round; Hilo's Ross "Da Boss" Ebanez (10-3) defeated Arizona's Josh Donahue (5-3) by TKO at 3:22 of the first round; and Scott Junk (1-2) of Kailua defeated Hawaii's Vilatonu Vonokalaifia (4-1) by TKO at 1:28 of the first round.