By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
It was Maui no ka oi, at least in the two pro title bouts, at the Triple Threat Fights’ inaugural mixed martial arts event Saturday night at Edith Kanaka’ole Multipurpose Stadium.
In the main event, Maui’s Rilley Dutro earned a three-round decision over Hilo’s Daniel Friend for the pro bantamweight 135-pound belt, and in the co-main event the Valley Isle’s Eddie Perrells scored a similar three, five-minute round decision over Kona’s Van Oscar Penovaroff for the pro featherweight 145-pound title.
Maui’s two fighters were the best in the cage against the two Big Island boys before about 1,000 fans on a 13-card bout, each showing a specific and solid skill set.
The 5-foot-10 Dutro had a nice reach advantage over Friend, who’s about four inches shorter, relying on his length to keep the Hilo fighter on the perimeter and firing knees in close-range action.
It was mostly a 15-minute stand-up battle. There were only two takedowns, both by Dutro, one early in the first round and another late in the third round when he was ahead on points.
In the first round, Friend’s left hook caught Dutro’s chin, flooring the Maui fighter, who exhibited technical kickboxing skills, to the floor. But Dutro countered with a back-heel judo trip for a takedown and valuable points.
Friend connected on a solid left-right combination in the second round. But he couldn’t follow that flurry because Dutro had enough speed and quick footwork to escape from further harm.
In the third, Dutro stayed on the perimeter and countered with knees and quick jabs when Friend came into his neighborhood. Hilo’s representative pressed the action late, but it was not enough.
While Dutro’s strength was his kickboxing, Perrells piled up points with his wrestling, going 6 of 6 on takedowns. Kona’s Penovaroff spent most of his 15 minutes on his back, defending himself from submission attempts and blows to the head and body.
Penovaroff was at least five inches taller than the 5-7 Perrells, but the Maui fighter kept closing the gap with double-leg takedowns. Time and again, he got the Kona guy to the mat and scored point after point.
In the amateur lightweight 155 title bout, Patrick Torres defeated Kawika “Tips” Torres by a three-round decision.
In the first round, Martin had a takedown, maintained side-control and rammed a knee to Torres’ ribs. But in the next two rounds, Torres had a couple more takedowns and scored enough points.
In other bouts:
• Petey Vital def. Kevin Silva by decision.
Most of the three, three-minute rounds were spent on the ground, with each fighter trying to turn the other into a pretzel and looking for a submission. It was pretty much a jiujitsu contest with each trying to force the other to tap out.
• Donald Gonsalves def. Rico Nasario by second-round triangle submission, 1:24.
In the second round, Gonsalves got a takedown, maintained side-control and drilled a knee to Nasario’s body, setting up his triangle choke.
Gonsalves also had better action in the first round. He got a takedown, escaped from a guillotine and mounted Nasario. From there he landed some solid strikes to the head.
• Riquo Abadilla def. Tyler Leopoldino.
• Ashton Castro def. Josh Sosa.
• Kaeo Meyers def. Brandon Machado.
• Sama Sekona def. Andrew Sanchis.
• Michael Thompson def. Jonah Aiona.
• Kamuela Mamone def. Mikaela Correa.
• Elijah Apao def. David Martinez Jr.
• Ricky Mamone draw Drisen Roman.