Mixed martial arts is one of those sports in which it can be a crapshoot as to who will win a certain matchup. There are many betting experts out there that may have great success for a number of events, but then comes along an event that they simply lost on. There are other events that you and all of your friends simply know is a lock, but then you are absolutely shocked by the outcome. For some, Liddell being knocked out by Jackson may have been that fight this year, or Gomi being gogoplata'd by Nick Diaz, or maybe seeing "JZ" Calvancanti steamroll Ribiero at K-1 Hero's Middleweight tournament. Either way, fights like this are one of the drawing factors for fans around the world. The K-1 Hero's event on Sunday proved to be one of those events that were great for betting odds and shocking to some fans. As for me, it wasn't too surprising, but the event did have its upsets and surprises.

Akiyama knocks out Denis Kang

Denis Kang's stance as a top middleweight in the world dropped a few notches on Sunday. Akiyama caught Kang with a punch a few minutes into the round that broke Kang's nose. A few moments later, Akiyama backed Kang into a corner and demolished him with an uppercut from the Gods. In a surprise upset, Akiyama shocked the crowd in Korea that was definitely rooting for Denis Kang's return to the ring. If you had paid attention to the betting lines, it may have been a significantly rich day for you as well. At a +250, Akiyama was actually a fairly good bet to make some great money. The underdog prevailed and the talk that Kang could potentially be a load for Anderson Silva to go up against has slowly descended to a whisper.

Giving Minowa a -600 got someone fired

Apparently the oddsmakers failed to recognize the fact that Minowa normally fights at middleweight and Min Soo Kim fought Brock Lesnar at a much higher weight in his last fight. Kim was at a +400, meaning my $100 turned into $400 fairly quickly since Kim disposed of Minowa in under four minutes into the fight. Minowa was unbelievably smaller than Kim, had little effect with his strikes to Kim, and was bullied around the ring like a ragdoll. The superstar power that Minowa apparently possesses did not help him at all. The spectacle that is "Minowaman" cannot continue to try to take on bigger fighters. His career will be over shortly if he continues to take those kinds of beatings.

Marcelo Garcia meets a punch

Considered the best submission grappler in the world, Marcelo Garcia met his match in the HERO's ring. He was defeated by Kim Dae Won via a punch in the second round that opened up a large gash in his face and caused the doctor to stop the fight. It reminded me of the old days when Charles Barkley would charge the lane and run some rookie over and say "Welcome to the NBA!". Although Garcia controlled much of the first round while grasping onto Won's back and trying to choke him out, Won's submission defense was good enough to give him another chance. Once the bell rung for the second round, Kwon threw a quick jab that stopped the fight. The lesson: Submission grappling is a great base, but it can only take you so far when you can stop the first punch. I think this was a moment in which we can see that the progression of the all-around skills of fighters is definitely coming into play.

Strikers had a bad day

Carlos Newton used to be in fairly good shape. He shows up to this fight looking like a beefier Chuck Liddell without any of his striking skills. Oyama ran a boxing clinic all over Newton's face. Newton apparently forgot the single biggest asset that you need when striking, move your feet. Newton was peppered with punches while he stood still and Oyama stuck and moved all around him. When Oyama came close to finishing Newton from blows, Newton tried to hit the floor and was submitted. It's time to say goodbye to Carlos Newton, he looks as if he doesn't have the heart to keep going.

Bernard Ackah is known as the guy who came out and blasted Johnnie Morton into a dreamland in a little over 30 seconds into their battle at K-1 Dynamite. Ackah is a big TV personality in Japan, but that wasn't going to help him in this matchup against a BJ Penn MMA fighter, Poai Suganuma. Suganuma proved that a guy who has some decent standup with outstanding ground tactics will almost always decimate a pure striker when on the ground. Ackah was exposed enormously on the ground and K-1 really hurt his chances of improving before hitting a major roadblock. Ackah needs to hit the drawing board and improve his ground game substantially.

Dong Sik Yoon once again proved that he has some great skills on the ground and is an up-and-coming force in HERO's. Although he only has a 3-4 record, he's had a horribly tough schedule to deal with, taking on Bustamante, "Rampage" Jackson, and Sakuraba in his first 3 out of 4 fights. Yoon took on Fabio Silva, another Chute Box brawler who uses his Wanderlei Silva like skills to knee and pound opponents to death. Unfortunately for Silva, he isn't Wanderlei Silva and he doesn't possess a very good ground game either. Yoon dominated SIlva on the ground and finished him off fairly easily a bit over halfway through the first round. Look out for the "Dongbar".

Final thoughts

Overall, the K-1 HERO's card was a fairly decent event with some surprises. Moreover, I enjoyed seeing some fighters that I have not seen fight in awhile get a chance to show off their skills. It was a breath of fresh air to see some judokas in the ring proving their skills against the exact type of fighters that their skills are made to counter. The betting lines were unbelievably beneficial to the hardcore fans that actually understood the matchups. Akiyama isn't a bad fighter at all, Min Soo Kim should kill middleweights, and Carlos Newton should either get back into shape or quit. Apparently the oddsmakers didn't realize this. Check out the fights online if you can find them, you will not be disappointed.

For those of you who were unable to catch EliteXC's Uprising MMA event on Showtime on Saturday, you missed a well produced MMA event that delivered in many ways that the UFC has failed to do in the past. It had some great action, great matchups, very good production, and the judges were correct this time. You'll know what I mean as you read on. With the recent acquisition of ICON Sport, EliteXC was able to have a Champion vs. Champion showdown much like the UFC, but with some fairly explosive middleweights in the mix. "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler showed exactly why he is called "Ruthless" by knocking out Murilo "Ninja" Rua to obtain the unified EliteXC Middleweight title. Nick Diaz made a return to the cage with a controversial split decision over BJ Penn product, Mike Aina. Jake Shields made quick work of Renato "Charuto" Verissimo, and Gina Carano overcame doubts from her critics to beat Tonya Evinger by submission, her first rear naked choke. It was an exciting card, but what lies ahead for EliteXC? They have the star power to produce some very good up and comer cards along with a mixture of veteran competitors. What more do you need? There are many aspects to the MMA game that come to mind, but there are also many critics to EliteXC's Uprising in the MMA Community. I hope to answer some questions, throw out some facts, and let the people know why EliteXC is an organization we should all be watching.

Uprising delivered!

It came, it saw, it conquered. Uprising was anticipated to be a fairly good fight card on paper, but it was a guaranteed great card. Many people took Nick Diaz as a first or second round winner, and many took Robbie Lawler as a first round knockout winner. Instead, we got some lower card fights that delivered great rounds to the fans. Joey Villasenor vs. Riki Fukuda was generally a tough battle to judge from a MMA fan's standpoint. On one hand, you have a great boxer in Joey Villasenor and on another hand; you have a great wrestler in Riki Fukuda. For the casual MMA fan, I believe this card was great for a dip into the MMA world and for the hardcore MMA fan; it was crafted with great matchups that ultimately kept us wanting more.

There are still many issues that plague some of these promotions, no matter what organization is involved. We had some close bouts in which many MMA fans were very adamant could have went either way. Villasenor and Fukuda had a close matchup that ended in a decision victory for Villasenor. Nick Diaz had a split decision victory over Mike Aina, a fairly green MMA striker training out of BJ Penn's camp in Hilo. Either fight could arguably have went either way, but in my eyes, both of these fights were judged correctly and to the full effect of how the MMA judging criteria is quoted. Octagon control, aggression, effective defense, striking, and grappling. All five aspects of the MMA fight were judged and I felt correctly used in each decision.  Unlike many other promotions, the judges that EliteXC was able to have for this event made this evening honest.

With that said, let's take a small look at what EliteXC has going for it, what it could do better, and where it really stands in the MMA world today. Obviously from my previous analysis, the matchups were incredible, the judging in Hawaii was honest which really could go sour at any time, but what else was great about this promotion that others have been failing to really do?

The Report Card

1. Matchups: B 

I'll give them a "B" for their fight matchups. EliteXC has been rather smart in that department. At this last card, we saw some significantly great matchups down the board. Villasenor, mainly a good boxer, was put up against Riki Fukuda, generally known as a nasty ground and pound wrestler. Fukuda has been known to stand and slug it out though, and it proved to make for a great fight. We now know that Riki Fukuda should be nicknamed Riki "Iron Chin" Fukuda for the amount of shots he took from Villasenor. Robbie Lawler vs. "Ninja" Rua had an aggressive pace written all over it from the beginning. It made me excited just thinking about the type of fighters both were and how it would be very interesting to see how each fighter would come out. Definitely a step up from the previous cards.

If we look at some of the past cards as well, EliteXC has made some serious efforts to solidify a PPV audience. They are currently one of the only MMA organizations in the world to lend a platform for women's MMA to exist. Gina Carano has been their poster girl for the sport. They have yet to bring in the big dogs from SmackGirl, but it could be in the works sometime in the future since EliteXC did partner with K-1 Heroes for an event. They obviously have the power to bring partnerships from overseas to the U.S. for events. EliteXC Destiny came in with a Frank Shamrock vs. Renzo Gracie bout, and included many upcoming fighters now who are mainstays on the EliteXC roster. Fighters like Fukuda, Villasenor, Carano, and Shields.

The EliteXC roster also has a lot of buzz for potential matchups. With cooperation with K-1, they were able to bring some of the best fighters from K-1 over to compete in the U.S.. Fighters like "JZ" Calvancanti, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Melvin Manhoef. Brock Lesnar was also an attraction on the Dynamite!!! USA show. The potential is there for other cooperative promotions through EliteXC, and I for one will be a fan that wants to see those battles.

2. Organization and Cooperation: A

A MMA organization that isn't afraid to work with a Japanese MMA organization in order to bring some super fights to the states and showcase some of the best talent in MMA, what's not to love? Hopefully we will see something similar in the works soon. But what else has EliteXC done besides that?

EliteXC acquired ICON Sport, Cage Rage, King of the Cage, and has really opened up their options for co-promotion efforts to really take off. Cage Rage has some great talent within its ranks, and we could see some great new talent and great veteran battles come from it. Vitor Belfort is scheduled to fight on their September 22nd card, which could potentially be the beginning of some huge co-promotion bouts involving him. King of the Cage brought up some great fighters such as Urijah Faber. There are potentially huge talent pools that EliteXC has just tapped into and it could make MMA very good for them in the long run.

3. Production: B

I have to admit, I love the old PRIDE Organization, so it brings a heartfelt sigh of relief to hear Stephen Quadros and Mauro Ranallo commentating the fights again. Although I was bitter at Quadros for judging the Diaz fight by saying the judges were only watching the end of the second round when I fully agreed with the judges in that Diaz landed many more shots and scored the submission attempts to win the round, I will refrain from calling him out and say that I respect the guy as a MMA analyst. Quadros got a C grade from me at Uprising, but overall, I love the Quadros/Ranallo combination. I have a softspot for Frankie "Twinkletoes" Trigg's crass honesty at times as well, and sometimes wish they'd give him a chance for EliteXC, but I can live without it if he continues to work the Art of War cards. EliteXC could do without Goldberg's horrible comments. He wasn't bad at Uprising, but he's had some horrendous outings at events. I understand he is star power, but I think they could do better.

The overall production of Uprising was great, much better than previous events. Blending in the Hawaiian culture with the background was interesting, but once again the old PRIDE days came back with the long runway to the cage. All we needed was an elevator to lift each competitor to the platform with smoke coming from it, and we'd have had a PRIDE 35: Third Coming. Ahh, those were the days. Overall, the production, camera work, interviews weren't bad either, and crowd was great at Uprising.

4. Potential: A

With all their recent acquisitions, many MMA fans have been weary as to what they will be doing with all these organizations. In an interview by Sherdog.com on Friday, Shaw mentioned that all the organizations would still be run by their respective presidents under the EliteXC Banner. Co-promotions would be done, bringing in fighters for matchups, etc. This sounds great from a MMA fan's standpoint. We will not only see a large talent pool for a matchmaker to choose from, but we will also see more new talent, more veteran matchups, and from what Shaw stated, a larger influx of events in 2008.

With no Pay-Per-View fees and shelling out $40 for a great card, what's not to love about Showtime's deal with EliteXC. The potential for this organization is through the roof. They have a long way to go before they can think about competing with the UFC, but in the end, all the fans win with this type of organization in the mix.

Overall Grade: B+

What's next?

EliteXC will be holding their next event on November 10th, 2007. No matchups have yet to be announced, but look forward to some very good matchups on their cards. If you are a true MMA fan and want to see some of the best matchups the U.S. MMA organizations have to offer, please include these shows in your MMA shows to watch list. The UFC and EliteXC combined make for a great MMA package in the U.S. Now all we need is Hero's and Shooto to get some PPV deals moving in the U.S. and we'd be set.

Check out my K-1 HERO's Olympia 2007 Preview over at my other column, MMA Analytics, at 411mania.com.

MMA Analytics 09.17.07: K-1 Olympia Preview