ISLE FILE
Vitale in title defense
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i's Falaniko Vitale will defend his X-1 World Events middleweight championship against Jon Kirk of Texas in the main event of the "X-1 Maui: New Beginning" mixed martial arts card tomorrow.
Preliminaries will start at 7 p.m. at the War Memorial Gym.
Vitale, who has a professional record of 26-9, said he does not know much about his opponent.
"He's long and lanky, hard to submit," Vitale said. "He has some decent jiu-jitsu skills, and as far as I know, he likes to bang."
Kirk, who is 11-5, has not fought on any major shows. However, all 11 of his victories have come via knockout or submission within the first two rounds.
Vitale, who grew up in Waipahu but now resides in 'Ewa, said he is looking forward to fighting on Maui.
"I'm 2-0 on Maui," he said. "Fans over there are knowledgeable and understand MMA, so fighting on Maui is always exciting."
In the semi-main event, Scott Junk of Kailua will meet Maui's Lolohea Mahe in a battle of Hawai'i's two top-ranked heavyweights.
"They asked me who I wanted to fight and I said well, I'm ranked No. 1 so let me have No. 2," Junk said. "Now, Lolohea stands in the way of a lot of my dreams, and that's getting back to the UFC. I have to take out Lolohea first."
Junk (7-2), is fighting for the first time since losing to Christian Wellisch at UFC 76 in September 2007. Mahe is 4-0.
For more information on the card, visit http://www.x1events.com.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
UH TEAMS IN SECOND
Both University of Hawai'i swimming and diving teams are in second place after the first day of competition at their respective conference championships.
The Rainbow Wahine won the 800-yard freestyle relay yesterday en route to amassing 64 points to share second with Northern Arizona at the nine-team Western Athletic Conference meet in San Antonio, Texas. Nevada leads with 72 points.
The UH team of Elliko Heimbach, Ricarda Schellenberg, Maura Barrett and Emma Berry won the 800 free in 7 minutes, 18.76 seconds.
In Houston, the team of Horativ Anastasescu, Nicola Xella, Sean Reilly and Davis Kane finished second in the 200 free relay (1:28.61) to help the Rainbow Warriors score 112 points. Southern Methodist leads the five-team field with 114 points.
Competition at both meets continues today.
