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HONOLULU, Dec. 10, 2007 -- The ICON Sport middleweight title fight between champion Robbie Lawler (Pictures) and challenger Kala Kolohe Hose (Pictures) was once again put on hold after Lawler suffered a torn bicep in training. Now the entire Dec. 15 ICON event has been postponed.
"There is no good news," said ICON Sport President T.Jay Thompson at a news conference Monday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center. For "days, Patrick (Freitas) and I, while sick to our stomachs, have tried awful hard to make the best decision both for our fans, for our local fighters and for the fighters that have trained hard and planned on coming in here. In the end, there was not a suitable replacement for Robbie Lawler (Pictures). Kala deserves a fight with Robbie Lawler (Pictures), deserves a shot at the ICON title, doesn't deserve to fight in ICON against anybody other than Robbie Lawler (Pictures) at this point."
"What can you say," said a disappointed Lawler. "I was training hard."
This marks the third time a Lawler-Hose title match has been postponed this year.
"I'm kind of sad, hurt … all that training, but stuff happens," Hose said. "I have no control of that, so I just got to keep focused and keep going forward. I can't think about the past or what just happened. It's only going to drive me back."
The bout was initially moved from June to September after Lawler suffered a shoulder injury, and then it was delayed yet again in favor of a higher profile fight between Lawler and Murilo Rua (Pictures) at EliteXC's first event in Hawaii.
"We did the best with what we had, and it didn't make sense to insult our fans and put on a card that was less than ICON," Thompson said.
The event has been rescheduled for early 2008, pending the condition of Lawler's arm.
"The injury is a serious injury to Robbie, certainly not a career-ending injury, but the initial thought that we heard as early as Friday was four to six weeks, and now today's confirmation from the doctor that was just re-looked at and said it might be more serious than that," Thompson said. "So we don't have details as far as if and when Robbie will get surgery or even if it's 100-percent sure he needs surgery, but it's looking worse today than it did even Friday."
Though the 15-fight card has also been rescheduled, some of the fighters originally scheduled for Dec. 15 may get other opportunities to fight in the meantime.
"I'm sorry to those fighters who have been training hard and didn't get hurt and don't get their opportunity," Lawler said.
"We are right now actively seeking fights for many of the fighters on the card," Thompson said. "We know guys have been ready. I believe we have Kala Kolohe a fight Jan. 25 on Showtime television on the ShoXC event. We have a couple other local fighters as well we think we're going to get fights on that card, both on the televised part and on the undercard to try and fulfill some of those."
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