Lawler knocks out Trigg in OT

"Ruthless" Robbie Lawler has the belt once again.

Lawler knocked out Frank Trigg at 1:40 of the fourth round with a stunning three-punch combo to become the first two-time world middleweight champion in the main event of last night's "ICON Sport: Epic" show in a fight that lived up to the event name, and then some.

Lawler (14-4) and Trigg (15-6) slugged it out for nearly 20 minutes before a gassed out Trigg took three shots to the face and dropped to the canvas midway through the fourth round in a fight that nobody expected to last that long.

"If I'm in shape, I'll knock (anyone) out," Lawler said.

Lawler weighed in at a trim 184 pounds and for the first time, didn't struggle at all to make weight. The extra conditioning paid off as he outlasted Trigg in a fight that had a Blaisdell Arena crowd of 4,000 standing and cheering the entire time.

Lawler's conditioning came into effect in the second round as Trigg began to tire. "Ruthless" took advantage by flooring Trigg with a right hand twice and bloodied the former champion's nose with a vicious right knee to the face that put him down again. Trigg bounced back by unloading punches at the end of the round that had the crowd applauding both fighters as the bell sounded.

By the end of the third round, both fighters struggled to make it to their corners, and Trigg had a hard time getting off the chair to begin the fourth round. The two traded punches back and forth before Lawler finally connected with the combination that put a quick end to Trigg's run as champion.

Former champion Jason "Mayhem" Miller bounced back to dispose of Hector Urbina, defeating him by TKO due to strikes just 71 seconds into the fight. Miller (18-5) peppered Urbina with repeated knees to the head before mounting him and finishing it with punches to the face.

"Brah, I'm hungry," Miller said. "(The fans) have seen me grow up so much over here. Lawler, Trigg, whoever, I'm ready for my shot again."

Miller's contract with ICON is up, but the man who calls Kalihi his home made no indication of what his future holds after the fight.

"Charuto" Verissimo was equally impressive in his victory over Lars Haven (2-1), paving the way for a possible future middleweight title shot. Verissimo worked for a takedown early in the first round and eventually mounted Haven before stopping him with punches just as Miller did at 2:09 of the first round.

Po'ai Suganuma, who trains with Verissimo in Hilo, made his ICON debut, but struggled with a stubborn Nathan Carey, who wouldn't let Suganuma end the fight, despite continually giving up his back and being mounted. Suganuma eventually won a unanimous decision, but nearly lost the bout in the final minute as Carey had him mounted and was raining down punches.

"He was strong and hard to take down," Suganuma said. "He had great body position."

Suganuma (7-1) easily won the first two rounds, dominating the standup game by repeatedly catching Carey (6-2) with left hooks. He ended the first round by trapping Carey in a rear naked choke, but the bell sounded before he tapped.

In the quickest fight of the evening, Justin Buchholz (6-1) knocked out Marshall Harvest (2-3) in 31 seconds to become the new ICON Sport lightweight champion.

Jeremy Williams won his third straight fight in an ICON ring, disposing of Charles Jones by TKO at 1:23 of the third round by referee's stoppage after Jones seemingly gassed.

In the undercard fights last night:

140 lbs.: Dwayne Harvey def. Devon Damo by tapout (triangle choke) at 1:51 of round 2.

140: Ryan Lee def. Jay Bolos by unanimous decision.

165: Scott "Sleepy" Anderson def. PJ Dean by unanimous decision.

170: Kimo Woelfel def. Derrick Keasley by unanimous decision

185: Kala Kolohe Hose def. Ron Verdadero by KO at :38 of the first round.