Mixed martial arts fans in Hawai'i will be left empty-handed for the Christmas season.

The Icon Sport: Fearless event scheduled for Saturday at the Blaisdell Center Arena was canceled yesterday due to an injury to champion Robbie Lawler.

Fans who purchased tickets will receive full refunds. Refunding will start Thursday, and fans must return the tickets to the site where it was purchased.

Lawler was supposed to defend his middleweight world championship against Wai'anae's Kala Kolohe Hose in the main event.

"There is no good news," Icon Sport president T. Jay Thompson said. "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 issued a medical report to the media yesterday confirming that Lawler has a torn biceps in his right arm. An MRI also revealed damage to Lawler's right shoulder.

The injury occurred while he was training in Illinois last week.

"I'm sorry to those fighters who were training hard and don't get their opportunity," Lawler said. "Because of me, there will be no show.

"Sorry to the fans who bought tickets."

There were 14 other bouts scheduled on the card, but Thompson said he did not want to run it without a worthy main event. He said attempts to find a legitimate replacement fighter to face Hose in a non-title bout on short notice were unsuccessful.

"In the end, there was not a suitable replacement for Robbie Lawler," Thompson said. "Kala deserves a fight with Robbie Lawler, deserves a shot at the Icon title. He doesn't deserve to fight in Icon against anybody other than Robbie Lawler at this point."

Thompson said he wants to reschedule a Hose-Lawler bout in 2008, but Lawler's injury status is preventing a date confirmation.

Lawler said he is still unsure if his injury will require surgery, so he doesn't know how long he will be out of action.

"It's not like I want this," he said. "I want to train. I want to fight. That's how I make my money. If I can start training this week, I will. The sooner I can get back in there, the better it is for everybody."

Lawler and former world champ Matt Hughes are scheduled to open a new training center called HIT Squad in Granite City, Ill., on Jan. 1.

"This injury could affect a lot of things, not just this fight," Lawler said. "So I'm not happy about it at all."

In any case, it is the third time that the Hose-Lawler bout has been postponed.

The bout was originally scheduled for June, but Lawler suffered a dislocated left shoulder in the weeks leading up to that bout.

It was rescheduled for September, but Lawler was granted an opportunity to fight for a world title in another organization, prompting the move to this December date.

"It's a sick feeling, but I can not do anything about it," Hose said. "I trust (Icon Sport). It's still going to happen. I just have to train twice as hard now.

"It's not like I can cry like a little kid and change things — force Robbie to fight. He got hurt. That's part of the sport."

In the interim, Thompson said he has negotiated a deal for Hose to fight on the Mainland in a nationally-televised bout in the ShoXC series on Jan. 25.

The bout, against an opponent yet to be named, will be televised on the Showtime cable network.

When a Hose-Lawler bout is rescheduled, Thompson said fans will likely be offered a discount.

"We understand this is a serious hit to our brand image ... we will work hard to make it right in 2008," Thompson said.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.