The question for all blockbuster shows is the same: when is the sequel coming out?

Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Robbie Lawler put on a blockbuster fight on Saturday night, and both said they would like be a part of part II.

Miller beat Lawler to win the Icon Sport organization's middleweight world championship on Saturday at the Blaisdell Center Arena. Some mixed martial arts Web sites are describing it as a "fight of the year" candidate.

"There was a lot of anticipation and a lot of hype for this fight," Icon Sport president T. Jay Thompson said. "And they exceeded the hype."

Miller took the title from Lawler with an arm-triangle choke in the third round. It is the same finishing maneuver Miller used to beat Stefan "Giant" Gamlin in May.

"I wrapped him up like a Christmas present," Miller said of the choke hold.

Miller said his strategy was to surprise Lawler early in the bout with a flurry of kicks.

"Everybody said Robbie would overpower me in a stand-up fight, but people forget I'm a kickboxer, too," Miller said. "I got some good kicks in and every one of those chipped away."

But Lawler responded by pounding on Miller in the second round. Midway through the second, Lawler worked his way on top of Miller in the "mount" position and threw a series of unanswered punches.

"I know it looked bad, but I didn't feel rocked or anything like that," Miller said of the second round.

Lawler admitted that he may not have been in condition to go past two rounds last night. He spent much of Friday in a sauna so that he could make the 185-pound weight limit.

"If I come back in shape, it's no match," Lawler said. "(Miller) is not strong at all. I'm stronger, and I still lost. That's awful."

Miller controlled the third round and got on top of Lawler in the mount position before securing the arm-triangle choke, 2 minutes, 50 seconds, into the round.

A raucous crowd of around 7,000 at the Blaisdell Arena erupted into cheers as Miller circled the ring in celebration.

"This is very important to me," Miller said. "This isn't just about four weeks of training and winning a belt. This is a big deal because it represents years and years of becoming a part of Hawai'i."

Three years ago, Miller was brought in from Las Vegas as an undercard fighter for the Icon Sport organization. He worked his way up the rankings — defeating Hawai'i champions Egan Inoue and Falaniko Vitale along the way — and now trains in Honolulu.

"I remember when I was the bad guy and everybody was booing me," said Miller, 25. "But this time, I felt the love. It was incredible."

Icon Sport's Thompson said: "The interesting thing is that I don't know where we are in the timeline of his journey. He's come a long way with us, but it may still be the beginning."

Miller improved to 17-4, including 8-0 in Hawai'i. Lawler dropped to 11-4.

"Sometimes it takes a long time to get a rematch going, so who knows," Lawler said. "But I definitely want it. I don't know what happened in this one. I'm salty about it, that's all I know."

Miller said: "I'll give him another one. I'll just beat him again."

Thompson said a rematch will not take place until 2007.

The next Icon Sport event is scheduled for Dec. 1 at the Blaisdell Arena, and Thompson said he plans to have Miller and Lawler fight on the card, just not against each other.

"Mayhem is the new champion and he will make his first defense on Dec. 1," Thompson said. "We're working on finding opponents for him and Robbie. Hopefully they both win and that will set up the rematch."

Former Icon Sport champion Vitale is also expected to fight on the Dec. 1 card. Vitale, who lost to both Miller and Lawler, said he will move up to the 205-pound weight class.

Several other bouts for the Dec. 1 card were set up by the results of Saturday's card.

Honolulu fighters Mark Oshiro and Tyson Nam each won in impressive fashion. Oshiro had the punch of the night, knocking out Paul Gorman 20 seconds into the bout.

Oshiro and Nam are expected to battle for the state championship in the 135-pound division on Dec. 1.

Honolulu's Sydney Silva won the state title in the 170-pound class with an arm-bar submission over Kimo Woelfel. Silva is expected to face Jay Jack of Maine on Dec. 1 for the North American title.

Jack defeated Mike Russo by choke submission on Saturday.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.