Nali'iPoaimoku Suganuma. Quite the name. You might know him better as Po'ai Suganuma, the light-heavyweight from Hawaii with the 9-3 record. If you don't have a clue who he is...well, that's why I write these things. So you will know who he is when he breaks onto the national scene. His story is pretty interesting, and fairly unique amongst fighters. How? Well, for starters, Po'ai suppported his MMA aspirations by playing the ukelele in restaurants and being a wedding singer. In Japan. Despite not speaking japanese!

Po'ai grew up in Hilo, Hawaii...home of one BJ Penn. He was a high school state wrestling champion, and started grappling in college just for something to do after he had quit wrestling. After graduating from college, his friend convinced him to move to Japan...since he wasn't ready for a regular life yet, he decided to take him up on his offer. He arrived speaking zero japanese, but was eventually able to secure a job teaching english. He also found a gym, called Twist, where he could continue his grappling hobby. His training eventually evolved into MMA-style training, and a career was born.

Despite having only one professional fight on his record, he was brought into Pancrase to fight in their heavyweight tournament. He progressed all the way to the finals, losing via doctor stoppage in the 3rd round to Kestutis Arbocius. After dropping that fight, Po'ai realized that he needed to train in a bigger and better gym to continue progressing in the sport. He had quit teaching english to train full-time, and was having trouble supporting himself in Japan (who knew the japanese weren't big on the ukelele?), so he decided to move home to Hilo and join the most well-known gym in all the land...BJ Penn MMA in his hometown.

Since joining BJ's gym, Po'ai has landed fights in ICON Sport and K1 Hero's, before signing with EliteXC to compete in their ShoXC series. His last two big wins over Bernard Ackah and Jared Hamman have both been disputed finishes, as you can see below. The grappler has had a tough go of it lately, losing his last two fights by TKO (one in a rematch with Hamman). He has said himself that the standup game is the hardest part to learn for him, so hopefully his skills can progress and he can get back on track in a different organization. If it doesn't work out for him though, at least he has a fallback plan...the ukelele!

Po'ai Suganama/Nate Carey (3 minute rounds):

Bernard Ackah fight - weird stop, didn't look like Ackah submitted:

First fight with Hamman, strange stop here too:

Suganuma/Hamman 1

Stats:
Nickname: Who needs a nickname when your name is Nali'iPoaimoku?
Record: 9-3
Promotions fought for: Powergate, Pancrase, HFC, ICON Sport, K1 Hero's, EliteXC, Destiny MMA
Championships Held: None
Background: Wrestling, grappling
Gym: BJ Penn MMA

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Posted by Tim Burke at 8:59 AM

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