I had the honor of shooting Walt Carvalho's Toughman Hawaii event in Hilo this past weekend. The fights were exciting and there are some really athletic young kids coming up the ranks.
Kaulana Bannister (pictured below) looks to be one of the bright young talents coming up the ranks. He lost his fight via decision, but he's young and looks good.
Kapono Ige is another young HW that looks like he has a bright future. He is shown in the picture below pointing to someone as his opponent shows the referee that his arm is dislocated. This dude is a bulldozer!
Here are a few other photos from the fights that night.
<img src="http://greghonda.smugmug.com/photos/1241749718_UEjcy-XL.jpg"
wow good shots Greg!
awsome pics as usual greg!
(but it should've been done in a ring. very ghetto in the cage imo.)
wow. great pics.
Nice pics greg. hey can you answer a question for me. I heard there unscheduled, as opposed to scheduled, brawl in the ring that night. Any truth to that?
what?!?!?!? A BRAWL AT A LOCAL FIGHT EVENT?
LOL... well this one was in the cage from what i heard. Two corners?
Po'ai - Nice pics greg. hey can you answer a question for me. I heard there unscheduled, as opposed to scheduled, brawl in the ring that night. Any truth to that?
Yup, I think Sergio Mamone vs Tony Pruett.
Double post
Not sure, but I think it was Sergio and Tony. After the Kapono Ige/Jermaine Estabillio fight all hell broke loose as Sergio rushed into the cage. Next thing I know the two corners are going at it and others attempt to enter the cage. Security did a good job of closing the cage door so that nobody could enter via the cage door. Since the cage door was locked, people started to scale the cage, at this point I got down from my ladder, pulled my bag of stuff and waited on the floor next to the cage.
After everything was under control, I looked and saw that my bag was open. I checked inside to make sure everything was there, and my 85mm f1.4 prime lens was missing (This is a $1400 lens.) FAAAACK! I quickly looked around the area and did not see it. I looked on the floor and under the cage, but still couldn't find it. Five minutes went by (seemed like a half hour) and I still couldn't find it. At this point I refused to believe that anyone took it, I figured that maybe it fell out of my bag and somebody kicked it during the riot. I finally found it under the ramp that the fighters walk out on. I opened the lens cap and prayed that the glass was not cracked. Turned out everything was working...phew.
Damn! Couldnt believe when i heard... i know both of them pretty well
Glad you found your lens though.
Po'ai - Damn! Couldnt believe when i heard... i know both of them pretty well
Glad you found your lens though.
So is that the same story your heard?
I talked to Tony, and he didnt tell me any details just said how surprised he was and he didnt know why Serg was mad.
Serge's good friend was just surprised at how Serg reacted, cause he's normally more controlled.
So I still am not sure what the hell happened.
If I was the 'Toughman Hawaii' promoter, that Sergio fighter would never be in my event again!
Well... they have an interesting relationship. Almost like hanai brothers. Just dont tell Serg I ever said that. LOL