Penn defeated Gracie by unanimous decision in one of the "Super Fights" of the 13-bout card.

A crowd of around 12,000 stayed past midnight to watch the first mixed martial arts event ever staged at Aloha Stadium.

Penn controlled most of the three-round fight, although there were no near-knockouts or submission attempts. Penn, who has defeated top-ranked opponents at several different weight classes, improved to 10-2-1.

Gracie, who is considered a master of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, dropped to 10-6-1.

In another Super Fight, Akebono showed that mixed martial arts is nothing like sumo.

Korean giant Hong-Man Choi defeated Akebono by knockout last night in another of the Super Fights.

Choi, who is 7 feet 2 and 353 pounds, landed several unanswered punches to Akebono's head throughout the first round. Akebono, who is 6-8 and 470 pounds, was knocked to the canvas twice in the first round.

After the second knockdown, the referee stopped the bout and awarded the victory to Choi. It was the second time this year that Choi has defeated Akebono.

Choi improved to 4-0. Akebono, who was raised as Chad Rowan in Waimanalo, dropped to 1-7.

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was in attendance last night, and Choi pointed to Tyson after the bout asking for a challenge.

Canada's hard-punching Gary Goodridge won the eight-man heavyweight tournament, winning all three of his bouts by knockout.

Goodridge beat Japan's Yusuke Fujimoto in the final with a third-round technical knockout. Goodridge knocked Fujimoto to the canvas five times during the bout. After the fifth knockdown 1:19 into the third round, his corner stopped the fight.

At 5-10 and 220 pounds, Fujimoto was the smallest fighter in the tournament. Goodridge, who is 6-3 and 264 pounds, improved to 30-22-2.

Earlier in the night, Goodridge beat Hilo's Wesley "Cabbage" Correira by technical knockout in the quarterfinals. Correira stumbled to the canvas late in the first round after taking repeated kicks to his legs from Goodridge. The referee stopped the bout 2 minutes, 43 seconds into the first round.

The other Hawai'i fighter in the tournament, Kailua's Scott Junk, was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Fujimoto via knockout in the third round. The first two rounds were close, but Fujimoto dropped Junk with a right hand to the head, 1:20 into the first round.

Crowd favorite Eric "Butterbean" Esch of Alabama won his quarterfinal bout over Marcus Royster, but sustained an injury to his left leg and could not fight in the semifinals.

Royster was allowed to fight in the semifinals, but he got knocked out by Fujimoto.

In the first Super Fight of the night, Japanese champion Musashi defeated Sweden's Rickard Nordstrand by majority decision in a heavyweight bout.

Musashi landed several hard punches and kicks, but there were no knockdowns in the three-round fight. Musashi improved to 40-20-5; Nordstrand dropped to 16-6.

K-1 officials were hoping to set a North American attendance record of 15,000. An official attendance figure was not available last night.

Results

Super Fights

Heavyweight (K-1 rules): Hong-Man Choi (Korea) def. Akebono (Hawai'i) by KO punches, 2:53 into first round.

185 pounds (mixed martial arts rules): BJ Penn (Hawai'i) def. Renzo Gracie (Brazil) by unanimous decision.

Heavyweight (K-1 rules): Musashi (Japan) def. Rickard Nordstrand (Sweden) by unanimous decision.

K-1 Heavyweight Tournament

Quarterfinal 1: Gary Goodridge (Canada) def. Wesley "Cabbage" Correira (Hawai'i) by TKO kicks, 2:43 into first round.

Quarterfinal 2: Carter Williams (California) def. Nobuki Hayashi (Japan) by unanimous decision.

Quarterfinal 3: Eric "Butterbean" Esch (Alabama) def. Marcus Royster (California) by unanimous decision.

Quarterfinal 4: Yusuke Fujimoto (Japan) def. Scott Junk (Hawai'i) by KO punch, 1:20 into third round.

Semifinal 1: Goodridge def. Williams by KO punches, 1:15 into first round.

Semifinal 2: Fujimoto def. Royster by KO punches, 2:16 into first round.

Final: Goodridge def. Fujimoto by TKO, 1:19 into third round.

In other undercard bouts:

Heavyweight (K-1 rules): Mike Malone (Hawai'i) def. Dustin Hanning (California) by decision in overtime round.

190 pounds (mixed martial arts rules): Riki Fukuda (Japan) def. Brandon Wolff (Hawai'I) by TKO, 2:29 into second round.