HONOLULU, Feb. 9 — It seems Robbie Lawler (Pictures) and Trevor Garrett (Pictures) were not meant to fight.

After recovering from the broken hand that prevented him from squaring off against Garrett last December, Lawler, a former ICON Sport middleweight champ, had to again bow out, this time due to food poisoning.

“He must have seen my fight with Rory Markham (Pictures),” joked Garrett, who holds a first-round knockout victory over Lawler’s teammate and training partner.

Renato Verissimo (Pictures), who recently signed a three-fight deal with ICON, looked impressive in his return to the ring after an eight-month layoff, stopping Kris Fleurestil in the first round.

“I could feel all the rust coming out of my body,” Verissimo recalled. But after securing a takedown, “Charuto” was right back in the game.

“I’m a black belt in jiu-jitsu,” the Brazilian remarked “[so] from that point on I felt like I had a little bit more control.”

Verissimo quickly moved to mount, forcing his opponent to give up his back. Charuto didn’t miss a beat as he sunk both hooks in and continued to flatten Fleurestil out on the mat and rain down punches until the referee stopped the bout at just 2:19 of the first frame.

Professional boxer turned MMA fighter Jeremy Williams made his return to the ICON ring and defeated tough grappler Derek Thornton via guillotine choke at 3:48 of the first round.

“Submissions and stuff like that aren’t second nature for me,” Williams explained after the fight. But listening to him list off names like Eddie Bravo, Jason Miller, and Karo Parisyan (Pictures) as training partners, you get the feeling it’s something he’s working on.

Local heavyweight favorite Scott Junk (Pictures) made short work of John George after connecting with a straight right hand that ended the fight just 10 seconds after the fight’s opening bell.

Earlier in the night Bronson Pieper won the 145-pound state title by scoring a knockout over Chico Cantiberos. The two displayed a healthy exchange of strikes before Pieper connected with a right hand that sent Cantiberos to the mat. Pieper gave Chico no time to recover and followed up with a few shots that convinced the referee to call a stop to the bout.

Mark Moreno (Pictures) put on a show for the home crowd, winning fight-of-the-night honors with a kick to the head that sent opponent Sam Jackson crashing to the floor.

Preliminary Bouts

Devon Chong def. Isaiah Cobb-Adams submission (armbar) 0:50 R1
Dwayne Haney def. Jay Bolos submission (arm-triangle choke) 1:26 R2
Richard Desforge def. Allen Lau TKO 2:34 R2
Justin Bucholz def. Brandon Pieper TKO 1:07 R1
Sadhu Bott def. Peni Tuafa’ao submission (rear-naked choke) 1:36 R2
Ross Hose def. Keoka Baker KO R1
Randy Leuder def. Ron Fields unanimous decision
Jerome Kekumu def. Mike Balasi unanimous decision