Renato "Charuto" Verissimo wants to light a victory cigar again.

That's why he came out of a nine-month "retirement" to fight on tonight's Icon Sport: All In mixed martial arts card.

Verissimo will take on Iowa's Kris Fleurestil in a semi-main event of the 14-bout card at the Blaisdell Center Arena.

Robbie Lawler will face Trevor Garrett in the main event.

"I think it was too important to me to stay away from fighting, especially here in Hawai'i," Verissimo said. "I just want to come back in a good way and show everybody that I can still compete."

After losses in January and April of 2006, Verissimo announced that he was retiring from the sport.

"I felt like if I couldn't compete at that level, I didn't want to compete at all," he said.

Verissimo, 33, is still considered one of the top Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitors in the world. He was raised in Brazil, but moved to Hawai'i around 10 years ago to teach jiu-jitsu. One of his prized pupils was BJ Penn, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) world champion.

Over the past few months of his "retirement," Verissimo has been training in Hilo with Penn.

"I just kept training hard with BJ and couple other really good guys, and then I felt like I wanted to compete again," he said.

Verissimo — whose nickname "Charuto" means cigar in Portuguese — was once a world title contender himself in the prestigious UFC organization.

From 2003 to '06, he was known for accepting bouts against top-ranked opponents only. His professional record is 5-4, including losses to Matt Hughes and Frank Trigg.

Verissimo's goal now is to contend for the Icon Sport middleweight championship — which currently belongs to Trigg. Other fighters in that 185-pound class include Lawler, Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Falaniko Vitale.

"Hopefully, I can give any of those guys a good fight," Verissimo said.

First, he will have to get past Fleurestil, who is 1-5.

"I know he's a good wrestler, and wrestlers are always tough," Verissimo said. "But I feel like I have a lot to prove as well, so I am ready for anything."

JUNK WILL ALSO MAKE ICON DEBUT TONIGHT

Hawai'i heavyweight Scott Junk recently signed a contract with Icon Sport, and he has one goal in mind.

"Become the heavyweight champion for Icon Sport," he said.

The heavyweight title is currently vacant, and Junk is already a contender. He is 3-1, with the only loss to former world champion Ricco Rodriguez. Junk will face John George (5-4) of Iowa on tonight's undercard.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.