‘Tigre’ Finishes Hose in X-1 ‘Island Pride’ Headliner

HONOLULU -- Former Icon Sport middleweight champion Kala Hose took his third consecutive defeat on Saturday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, as Mexico’s Edwin Aguilar caught the Hawaiian with a well-placed knee and followed up with a barrage of punches until referee Chris West halted the X-1 “Island Pride” main event 4:21 into the first round.

Hose, who has not won a fight since August 2008, uncharacteristically opted to clinch and work for early takedowns.

“I figured with this fight we’d try something different and take him to the ground,” Hose said.

However, the EliteXC veteran could not bring his foe to the mat, as “Tigre” defended and began landing knees to Hose’s head from the over-under clinch position.

“He was catching me with some knees,” Hose said. “At first, it wasn’t bothering me, and then he just landed that big one.”

Though the game plan was unsuccessful against Aguilar, Hose still believes improving his wrestling and grappling will bring him more success in the future.

“I’ve got to stop being one-dimensional,” Hose said. “I’ve got to really work on my ground game, [because] that’s been my biggest downfall.”

The conclusion of the X-1 light heavyweight tournament took co-main event status, as South Korea’s Sang Soo Lee defeated Poai Suganuma via unanimous decision.

Lee -- who defeated Daniel Madrid and Roy Boughton en route to the final -- displayed a well-rounded skill set, as he dropped Suganuma numerous times over the 15-minute affair and controlled top position for long stretches.

“The fight went exactly as we planned for in training,” Lee said through his manager and translator, John Han. “From Poai’s previous fights, we saw that he has a good punch when he has a good distance, so we tried not to give him the distance.”

Meanwhile, Van Oscar Penovaroff scored a devastating knockout over the San Jose, Calif.-based David Barrios.

Penovaroff’s training camp includes Sonny Westbrook and Leland Chapman, whom fans may recognize from the television series “Dog the Bounty Hunter.”

He connected with an overhand right that sent his opponent crashing to the mat at 1:46 of the opening round.

Finally, Max Holloway captured the X-1 155-pound state championship, scoring a technical knockout over Strikeforce veteran Bryson Kamaka 3:09 into round one.

“It was what I thought it was going to be -- a stand-up war,” Holloway said. “He caught me with some good ones; I’m not going to lie. He got me with a couple good high kicks, but in the end, I guess it was the overhand that did it. After that, I saw him walking kind of funny, so I bounced on that and got the TKO.”

Other Bouts
Dustin Kimura def. Sadhu Bott -- Unanimous Decision
Collin Mansanas def. Delbert Grace -- TKO (Punches) 1:25 R2