Kane'ohe's Mike Malone would like another shot on a K-1 card ... as long as it's against somebody closer to his own size.

Malone's valiant performance in a losing effort to Korea's Hong-Man Choi was one of the highlights of the K-1 World Grand Prix in Hawai'i professional kickboxing event Saturday night at the Blaisdell Center Arena.

"I'd love to fight in K-1 again, and I hope I proved to them that I'm capable," Malone said. "But next time, I'd like to fight somebody who's not 150 pounds heavier than me."

Choi is 7 feet 2 and 363 pounds, and Malone is 6 feet and 219 pounds. Given the size discrepancy, the bout went longer than expected.

Malone lasted nearly two rounds, eventually losing by TKO late in the second round when a gash opened up on his right shin.

"My neck is a little sore, and my leg is messed up, but other than that, I'm fine," Malone said. "He didn't hit me with anything hard, so that was good."

Malone got knocked to the canvas twice by Choi in the first round — once from a knee to the head, and then from a left hook to the chin.

"Those knockdowns were more because of his force," Malone said. "He's so big and powerful. But he didn't hurt me. It's just that there's so much force behind everything he throws."

The crowd of around 3,000 gave Malone a rousing ovation after he survived the first round, and again after the bout ended.

"It was a great experience," Malone said. "The main thing is the crowd enjoyed it."

Malone was not the only crowd favorite. Mighty Mo — whose real name is Siala Mou Siliga Jr. — won the eight-man open weight tournament, and the crowd adopted him from the start.

"It gave me more energy to keep working," said Siliga, who was born in American Samoa, and raised in San Bernardino, Calif. "I didn't want to let my fans down."

He responded by knocking out three opponents in a 4-hour span to win the tournament.

In the tournament final, Russia's Aleksandr Pitchkunov dropped Siliga in the first round with a kick to the head.

"It did shake me a little bit," Siliga said. "The back of the head is like the worst place you can get hit. But I wanted to return the favor."

With the crowd chanting "Migh-ty Mo! Migh-ty Mo!" Siliga won the tournament by dropping Pitchkunov three times in the third round. As the Hawai'i champion, Siliga earned a spot in the K-1 finals tournament in Japan later this year.

Also on Saturday's card, Morocco's Badr Hari won the K-1 heavyweight world championship with a spectacular knockout of Japan's Yusuke Fujimoto.

A left kick by Hari connected to the side of Fujimoto's head, ending the bout 56 seconds into the first round. It is the first time that the K-1 organization held a heavyweight championship bout.

"We have a policy every fight — the shorter, the better," Hari said. "I went in the ring and let my jab work for me like always. He went down on a jab, and then it was just waiting for the moment to finish the fight."

K-1 officials said they would like to return to Hawai'i next year. K-1 is based in Japan, and is the most popular kickboxing organization in the world.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.