Bruno Ewald won at the Jiu-Jitsu Worlds, and Eben Kaneshiro, Lebeau Lagmay and Kyle Sukehira have all done well in martial arts, said Eric Pajdak, owner of KMA.com. This made it difficult to decide on who was the Kaua‘i Martial
Bruno Ewald won at the Jiu-Jitsu Worlds, and Eben Kaneshiro, Lebeau Lagmay and Kyle Sukehira have all done well in martial arts, said Eric Pajdak, owner of KMA.com. This made it difficult to decide on who was the Kaua‘i Martial Arts Artist of the Year.
But when the dust settled, Weston Victorino was selected as the KMAOFT.
“This was another difficult year to pick a winner for the KMAOFT award,” Pajdak states in an e-mail.
“There were a lot of legitimate contestants. In the end, I selected Weston Victorino because he has been more active in competing in diverse tournaments.”
Victorino is currently training at the Colorado Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy under Machado Black Belt David Ruiz for his ground game, Pajdak said. Because of this, his award of the leiomano, a replica of an ancient Hawaiian weapon, was accepted by his step-parents, Michael and Dayna Ng.
During the course of the year, Victorino has competed in the annual Kaukenbo Tournament in the Brown/Black Belt division, the Kaua‘i Garden Angel Kajukenbo Tournament, the Kaua‘i Cage Match 3 and 4, Punishment in Paradise East vs. West and the “Where Champions Collide” event.
Victorino was also a good ambassador to martial arts with his behavior when he was in the community.
“This is just as important as his accomplishments he achieved in competition,” Padjak said.
In addition to the leiomano sponsored by Knockout Kaua‘i, Padjak noted that Victorino also received a small Tahitian drum created by Padjak’s neighbor, Maneha.
Padjak is hopeful that future winners of the Martial Arts Artist of the Year will continue to have access to these awards.
Previous recipients include Luke Hacker and Kaeo Lopez.
