Inoue officially withdrew last night from tonight's Super Brawl XXI card at the Blaisdell Center Arena because of an injury.

Inoue — who has become Hawai'i's biggest draw in mixed martial arts events — was recently diagnosed with a fractured orbit bone under his left eye. He sustained the injury during a training session two weeks ago.

"My hardest part of training was done," Inoue said. "In fact, it was my last round of sparring when I got hurt. It's frustrating, but I'll just have to push everything back now."

Inoue was scheduled to face Jason Miller of California in a 185-pound bout that was promoted as the main event of the card (Miller will instead face Shawn Taylor, who trains at Inoue's Grappling Unlimited gym).

It was also supposed to be Inoue's "comeback" match before a much-anticipated rematch with Japan's Masanori Suda in November.

In May, Suda knocked out Inoue in the first round to win the world Shooto championship.

According to Inoue, Shooto officials in Japan ruled that there was a referee's error during the bout. But instead of going through the lengthy process of appeals, Inoue agreed to concede the championship as long as Suda agreed to a rematch.

"We set the rematch for Nov. 21, but because of my injury, I want to move it back," said Inoue, 38. "Hopefully it can still work out."

Inoue was diagnosed with a shattered eardrum after the Suda match, but he said that injury is healed. The orbit bone injury will take at least six weeks to heal.

Kaipo Kalama, who caused the injury to Inoue, is scheduled to face Jay Martinez on the undercard tonight, and Inoue said jokingly: "He better knock his guy out."

In Inoue's absence, Vitale will serve as the main event draw tonight.

The former Waipahu High and University of Hawai'i football standout will take on Justin Ellison of Utah in a 185-pound match.

"It doesn't matter to me," said Vitale, 29. "I trained hard for this fight, so if I was fighting in the semi-main or the main event, I was ready."

Vitale, who resides in Kane'ohe, has become a bona fide star in the sport. He improved to 12-2 in June by knocking out former Olympic wrestler Matt Lindland on the undercard of an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) card at Las Vegas. The UFC is widely considered to be the most popular level of mixed martial arts.

Vitale said he is hoping that a victory tonight will earn him another invitation to a UFC card.

"That was my last fight, so it was about time for me to get back in action," Vitale said. "But I love fighting at home anyway. There's more motivation because everybody is cheering you on"

Several other Hawai'i grapplers are scheduled to appear on tonight's card, including Ronald "The Machine Gun" Jhun, Ray "King Kong" Seraille, Eddie Yagin and Kolo Koka.