ICON SPORT

What: Professional mixed martial arts
Who: Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Stefan Gamlin in the main event, plus 10 other bouts
When: Tomorrow, preliminaries start around 7 p.m.
Where: Blaisdell Center Arena


Tickets: $35 for upper level seats, $49 for mid-level seats, $75 for floor seats, $150 for ringside seats

Normal questions about mixed martial arts don't bother Tyson Nam so much anymore.

When is the next fight? Who is the next opponent? What gym is open for training?

For the past 2 1/2 months, Nam has had to deal with some much deeper and darker questions.

Nam's older brother, Jason Nam, was shot and killed outside his Makiki apartment in broad daylight in March. The case remains under investigation.

"Every day is hard because we still don't know," Nam said. "But I told myself, I can't let it eat away at me. I needed to get back in the groove of things because that's what my brother would want."

For the first time since his brother's death, Nam will participate in a mixed martial arts bout. He will fight on the undercard of tomorrow's Icon Sport event at the Blaisdell Center Arena.

Nam, who is 22 and a student at the University of Hawai'i, will face Bill Dexter of San Diego in a matchup of up-and-coming 135-pounders.

In the main event, Jason Miller will face [[Stefan Gamlin in a rare open weight bout. Miller is the No. 1-contender in Icon Sport's 185-pound division; Gamlin is 6 feet 7 and 350 pounds.

Nam said his brother was one of his best friends when they were growing up in Waimanalo. Jason is 9 years older than Tyson.

"Once I got into this sport, he was my biggest fan," Nam said. "He never missed a fight, and I know he's going to be there for me (tomorrow)."

Nam started in boxing, and then got into kickboxing. He recently started incorporating grappling into his training so that he could enter mixed martial arts events. He now trains at Egan Inoue's Grappling Unlimited school.

"I wanted to learn one thing at a time, so I went to boxing first, then I added kickboxing, and now I'm into mixed martial arts," Nam said. "I wanted to be ready for anything."

He also said that he is ready to face the mental challenges.

"My brother is always going to be in my mind and my heart," Nam said. "I'm going to use it to drive me even harder."

SCHEDULED BOUTS

Open weight: Jason Miller vs. Stefan Gamlin
135: Bill Dexter vs. Tyson Nam
175: Anthony Torres vs. Jerry Hackney
Heavyweight: Ray Seraille vs. Gary Myers
170: Lawrence Shorter vs. Sydney Silva
155: Kaleo Kwon vs. Marshall Harvest
Heavyweight: Pat Collins vs. Jarret Lindsey
165: Kimo Lee vs. Derek Stadler
190: Ron Verdadero vs. Jack Richardson
135: Jared Santos vs. Ikaika Silva
130: Bronson Mohika vs. Devin Damo

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