RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Jason Miller wailed on Robbie Lawler en route to a victory last night at the Blaisdell.

Mayhem gets his hooks into Lawler

He came to Hawaii as a "white boy" who was supposed to get a beating, but eight fights later, Jason "Mayhem" Miller is still waiting for that beating to happen.

Miller forced "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler to tap out to a side choke at 2:50 of the third round to become the new Icon Sport middleweight champion in the main event of last night's Icon Sport: Mayhem vs. Lawler event at Blaisdell Arena.

A near-sellout crowd of approximately 7,500 people watched as Miller won his eighth fight in a row in Hawaii by using his signature choke hold to force Lawler to submit.

"That's my patented move in the ring these days," Miller said. "Just grab and squeeze."

"Mayhem" improved to 17-4, while Lawler lost for the first time in more than a year and fell to 11-4.

"I didn't really have a plan, I just came out here to fight," Lawler said. "I thought I could get him tired, but it didn't work."

Lawler threw just one punch in a very slow first round, seemingly trying to allow Miller to wear himself out. The strategy nearly worked, as Lawler came out in round two and dropped Miller with two huge right hands, and spent the majority of the round on top of Miller raining down blows, twice nearly forcing the referee to stop the fight.

"I was getting my (butt) kicked at the end of that round," Miller said.

With the fight even, it was Miller who came out fresh in the third round, and caught Lawler with a knee that put him down. With Miller on top of Lawler in the corner, the referee forced the two fighters to reposition in the middle of the ring. After Miller was warned for an illegal elbow, he managed to swing to the side of Lawler and lock in the side choke.

"I brought it back to Kalihi," Miller said of his new championship belt.

Two new state champions were crowned last night as well. In the 170-pound state title fight, Sydney Silva took home the title after submitting Kimo Woefel by armbar at 4:05 of the first round. Silva won't have much time to celebrate his win however, as he will likely defend the title at Icon's next show in December against Jay Jack, who needed less than 2 minutes to tap out Mike "The Bull" Russo by rear naked choke.

"I put him on his back, tried to maintain position, and worked the knees to the head," Jack said. "(The choke) was a little under the jaw, but it still worked."

In the 145-pound weight division, Eastsidaz fighter Chico Cantiberos defeated Kevin Delima by TKO with 5 seconds left in the second round to win that state title.

Tyson Nam continued his rise to the top of the 135-pound weight division, as he took apart Ikaika Silva in winning an easy unanimous decision.

Niko Vitale announced he will make a comeback at 205 pounds.

"I put some weight on and I've enjoyed the last three months," Vitale said. "I'm tired of losing weight and I did good at the beginning at 205, so I'm going to give it a shot."