Why isn't Nick Diaz a star? I don't know, but he smacks Inoue around fairly easily in this battle.

Erin Bucknell over at MMACalifornia.net got the goods from Armando Garcia involving his side of the story in this entire saga that was Nick Diaz being pulled from Saturday’s Strikeforce card. Erin posted an email that she received from Armando Garcia explaining the entire situation from his side of the lines. These are some of the pieces of the email that strike me as potentially damaging for Nick Diaz.

The employee was told by the Doctor’s office that the actual medical examination reports would be ready on Monday March 17, 2008. He advised the Doctor’s office that he would return with another fighter on that date and would pick them up then.

There is absolutely no doubt that both the employee and the fighter were given the necessary instructions.

On March 17 the promoter’s employee went back to the Doctor’s office with another fighter and was given the medical examinations for the previous fighter.

Early in the business day on Tuesday March 25, 2008 (eight days later and three days from the fight) the promoter’s employee called our office and asked a series of ‘hypothetical’ questions regarding the use of marijuana by a fighter, medicinal marijuana, having or not having a marijuana card, etc.

In the paragraphs before this excerpt, it was determined that Diaz completed his medicals on March 13, 2008. Diaz disclosed that he did use marijuana for medicinal purposes and had used it in the same week as the examination. He stated that he had a card to prove it, but did not have the card with him at that time. He told the office that it would be provided.

The hypothetical questions are bit mysterious. Also, the medicals were in fact turned in only three days prior to the event. In any case, the CSAC FAQ does state that if you have prescription drugs disclosed on your medicals, you should not wait until the week of the fight to turn those papers into the CSAC. It warns that it could very well lead to the participant not being able to compete.

Later we identified the fighter and the exact information and discussed the actual fighter’s situation. At that point, based on the exact situation, and new information that the fighter and the promoter were disclosing, which was not disclosed to the Doctor, I felt that it was highly unlikely that the matter could be resolved by the fight date on Saturday March 29, 2008.

Early on Wednesday March 26 I asked the Legal team for an opinion on the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 as it relates to licenses/contestants. On the same day I spoke with both the fighter and the promoter. The promoter asked me to ‘test’ the fighter. I advised him that I could not test someone who wasn’t licensed. In this case not only did I need additional medical information for licensing, but I had no ‘card’ and no application. Please note that even if I did, and could legally test him, the test results would not be back in time for the fight.

Please also note that the fighter previously tested positive in another state in a high profile case. In that case he tested positive for marijuana and the nanogram level was the highest known in combative sports history. I have the minutes of his hearing and he stated that he used marijuana ‘recreationally’ and he promised never to do it again. He never disclosed any medical condition that would require the use of marijuana and he never contended that he had a ‘card’. He has never fought in that state again. Now, he states that he has a condition which is helped by smoking marijuana yet he provides no evidence, or no evidence has been provided.

Garcia contends that since new information was provided at a time period of three days before the event. The new information was not disclosed in the first round of medicals on the 13th of March according to the quote. As I stated above, turning in medicals the week of the event with prescription drug disclosure is not a smart idea, and Garcia has the right to stop the fight from happening.

Before Saturday’s Strikeforce event in San Jose, California, the buzz around the venue was focused on Nick Diaz being unable to participate in the event due to what CSAC Executive Director, Armando Garcia, described as Diaz not submitted his medicals in time. When reporters found Gary Shaw, his side of the story was much different. Shaw claimed that he had a conversation with Armando Garcia in which Diaz’s medical marijuana card was deemed to be the issue with Diaz’s status to fight. The two different sides of the story clashed and have now culminated into a story that has hit MMA hard with controversy. Should a medical marijuana user be allowed to fight? Does it matter? Can Nick Diaz seek legal action against the CSAC and actually win?

The case against the CSAC

I’m not a legal expert, but common sense can at least take us a bit further into how someone would build a case against the CSAC in this instance. Diaz and his manager Cesar Gracie both stated in multiple interviews that Diaz had finished all his medicals and disclosed his medical marijuana card two-three weeks prior to the event. Of course, Diaz left the sending of the medicals to the CSAC up to the doctor’s office in which he visited which was likely a CSAC approved facility. In contradicting Garcia’s statement, Cesar Gracie had this to say in a MMAWeekly interview:

Gracie denied Garcia’s claim that Diaz did not turn in his medicals on time.

“That’s absolutely not true,” said Gracie about the timing of the medicals being received. “Because if he didn’t turn his medicals in, how did (Garcia) know Nick has a cannabis club card? He found out when the medicals were turned in. Nick doesn’t turn in medicals. He goes and gets them done and the lab was turning them in for him.

“There are fighters on this card that did not get their medicals in until today. They got them done last night and turned them in today, and they are fighting.”

Gracie makes a good point. Garcia would not have been disclosed the information about the medical marijuana card unless he was aware of the medical reports already. Secondly, if fighters were turning in medicals on the same day as the event, I fail to see how Diaz could not have done the same thing if Garcia had stated that his medicals were not submitted. There is however a flaw in Gracie's logic, and we'll talk about that later.

Many people feel this case revolves around the medical marijuana card, and it very well could end up heading in that direction, but the paper trail of the medicals is the true evidence piece here. If Diaz can prove he had taken all his medicals weeks before the event and that they were delivered to the CSAC in a timely manner for the CSAC to investigate, he could see at least some reimbursement from the CSAC for his “to-show” purse from the fight.

Medical Marijuana

In a surprise move by the California State Athletic Commission, Nick Diaz will not be allowed to fight on Saturday evening at EliteXC's event in San Jose, California. According to Sherdog.com's Josh Gross, Armando Garcia, the executive officer of the CSAC, made the decision after stating that Diaz's medicals were turned in late. Controversy now lies in the comments by Garcia due to the contradicting statements by Gary Shaw, EliteXC's president. Shaw and Nick Diaz's manager Cesar Gracie had this to say:

"He never mentioned anything about late medicals," said Shaw. "And if there were late medicals it wasn't because of Nick Diaz and it wasn't because of EliteXC."

The issue, as described to him by Garcia, said Shaw, was Diaz's prescription for medical marijuana, which is legal in California based on the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.

"He's got a medical marijuana card," confirmed Diaz's manager Cesar Gracie, who mentioned Attention Deficit Disorder as the cause for the prescription.

The reasoning behind Garcia's decision revolves around the time period in which Diaz let the commission know about the condition. Garcia stated that he was informed of the problem only three days before the event. The commission apparently launches an investigation into any medical marijuana case in order to “determine the reason for the prescription”. According to the article however, Diaz completed paperwork and a large amount of testing in Los Angeles nearly two and a half weeks beforehand.

Could this become a legal battle?

First and foremost, Nick Diaz and EliteXC may have grounds for a legal battle to obtain the money that Diaz stood to make for showing to the event on Saturday. Whether or not that will actually happen is up in the air, but the fact that Diaz turned paperwork in two and a half weeks ago is puzzling. Garcia claims he hadn't received paperwork that outlined the fact that Diaz had a medical marijuana card until three days before the event, yet the paperwork and physicals was done over half a month ago.

Cesar Gracie made a point that the commission should still allow Diaz to test clean before jumping to stopping the bout altogether. Unfortunately for fans and Nick Diaz, Garcia pulled the plug.

Questionable practices once again from the CSAC

If Shaw's recollection of their conversation is true and paperwork can be proven to have been filed with the commission at a much earlier date, it could prove that there was an ample amount of time for the CSAC to administer their investigation into the reasoning behind the prescription. The CSAC has had a long history of horrible logic when it comes to procedures and following by-laws in their own policy. Even in Sean Sherk's case, it was evident that the commission had huge problems in using any type of procedure during hearings. Some of the members of the board also had questionable logic.

Let Diaz fight, what does it really matter?

I never really understood the entire deal with marijuana affecting the abilities of a fighter. Numbing their mind to the affects of blows to the head? Give me a break, but in this case, does it really matter if Diaz has a prescription that may or may not have been disclosed sooner? What if they found Diaz's prescription to be valid? He'd be fighting on Saturday night with a medical marijuana card.. the exact same position he is in right now. He's missing out on $50,000 because somebody screwed transferring paperwork, or Shaw/Garcia is lying. Either way, Diaz's little prescription doesn't affect whether or not he should be allowed to fight or not.

How long does it take to investigate medical marijuana use for ADD anyways? Call up a few doctors, ask them for professional opinions, and get the show on the road. I'm really getting sick of the CSAC.

"KJ Noons began the fight with a hesitant look on his face. He squared his shoulders and moved quickly around the ring as Diaz chased and threw some peppering shots into the face of Noons. Noons stepped back, unloading a haymaker that caught Diaz and put him to the mat. Noons, calm as can be, stuck to his guns and remained on his feet as Diaz shuffled on the ground toward him. Unbelievably, Noons ran away causing Diaz to stand back up. Diaz relentlessly threw himself at Noons's legs for the takedown. Noons continued to stuff takedown attempts and eventually caught Diaz with a knee as he came in for a takedown, reminiscent of a Franca knee blast into Sherk's forehead. Diaz, beaten and battered, hung on for the remainder of the round."

That's a small dose of the action that took place this weekend at EliteXC: Renegade. Sounds a bit exciting, doesn't it? Well, the event had some potentially explosive battles that turned out to be cut short of their full potential to the fight fan. One fight in particular proved to be one of the most controversial that the promotion has had in quite some time. After EliteXC's last event, which I deemed to be successful, this was a poor showing and you can't really blame Gary Shaw for some of the outcomes. After all, this is mixed martial arts... anything can happen? These are some of my post-event thoughts regarding the "work", the stoppage, and the overall event.

Nick Diaz looked horrible!

Let me give you a small background as to how I feel about Nick Diaz. I find his attitude to be a bit enlightening at times. He has the type of personality that screams "I don't care what anyone thinks!". Society seems to try to push this type of personality on people with the media at times, but for the most part, business seems to be driven on the inclination that you will want to be someone you are not. Some people may buy expensive clothes to look like they belong in their "clique" of friends. Nick Diaz would slur vulgarity in your direction. His views on organic foods, the promoting aspect to MMA, and the fact that his name gets splashed on every horrible card in California from time to time seems to fuel his anger at times. I can respect the fact that he has opinions and actually self-educated himself on the food industry and probably much more. Problem is, his mixed martial arts background looks unbelievably impressive on paper, but not so impressive in the cage.

Many fans like to point at the fact the "weed" had a lot to do with his win over Takanori Gomi earlier this year. Fact is, the fight was still impressive and Nick Diaz is known for his amazing chin. Diaz has only been stopped ONCE in his career. Jeremy Jackson was able to do so very early in Diaz's career back in 2002. I find it hard for people to still believe that Diaz would have been completely knocked silly during the Gomi fight. Drop it already. The KJ Noons fight should be a proving point.

Noons landed a couple solid haymakers that staggered Diaz, but Diaz has one aspect to his game that is always a saving grace. His Brazilian ju-jitsu is highly feared by even the most aggressive opponents. It allows him to recover and continue, and that's the game that Diaz has decided to play no matter what type of opponent he is fighting. Is this an effective gameplan? Absolutely not. I don't mind seeing Diaz try to outbox his competition. Diaz has some decent boxing skills, but he clearly has improvements he needs to make in his defense. He would land a couple of peppering shots to Noons and then get smacked with a hard shot from Noons. Defense is key when coming in for the clinch while throwing jabs. Diaz didn't have it.

I'm ignoring another factor in this battle though. Diaz's gameplan didn't seem to be the gameplan we've seen in previous battles. It's standard procedure, at least historically, that Diaz comes out with his fists churning like a locomotive wheel. Apparently before the fight with Noons, he made a switch in his head. Diaz came out looking for the takedown immediately. The problem: Diaz's takedown attempts were TERRIBLE. Diaz needs some explosiveness in his lead step to make any attempts effective. Slowly running into his legs looking like a turtle isn't going to cut it when someone is trying to destroy your face at the same time.

Combined with a horrible takedown game, Diaz was outstruck. This was one of the aspects of Diaz's game I liked. I thought he could potentially stand with Noons, but I was wrong. Noons countered effectively during the first round. Noons cut Diaz up with some good punches and a huge knee. The stoppage was a bit premature to many fans, but it wasn't controversial. Diaz had some big cuts in bad areas. I did feel Diaz could have continued until it was noticeable that he wasn't seeing punches coming in. It ended a fight that could have potentially been great in the later rounds. We can now look forward to seeing Noons vs. "Crazy Horse" Bennett early next year.

Shields chokes out Pyle

Jake Shields continued his dominance in EliteXC with a win over Mike Pyle. I wasn't overly impressed with Shields, but then again, I haven't ever been really impressed with him. Shields seems to be a guy with an excellent ground game, but his standup is still lacking. From what I heard from Frank Trigg this past week about Pyle, Pyle was looking to catch Shields early. Unfortunately, Shields has explosive takedowns that actually pummel his opponent to the ground. Pyle became overwhelmed and was choked out. I was actually impressed with his aggressiveness on the floor. Quality win for Shields and a step up in the competition. Who will EliteXC go out and get since Shields managed to sign a new long-term deal with EliteXC? It should be interesting to see who they can really put up against him.

"Kimbo Slice" wins by intimidation

Kimbo won his fight on Saturday night before he even stepped into the cage. He was taking on Bo "Redrum" Cantrell who took the fight on short notice and shouldn't have been in the cage in the first place for a number of reasons. First and foremost, Cantrell has been knocked out cold in 3 out of his last 4 fights. He also allowed himself to be gogoplata'd by Brad Imes in his most recent bout that took place only a couple of weeks before this fight. He obviously has no ground game, which is exactly what EliteXC probably wanted to see during the matchups. This wasn't the problem I had. It's widely known that when you withstand a lot of knockouts, it becomes more of a problem later down the line. It seems that the problem has reached its peak for Cantrell.

Cantrell took a stiff uppercut to the armpit, then a solid elbow to the head and went down. While on the ground, he looked very coherent and wide eyed. He instantly tapped however. The concensus of many fans who were watching the action unfold with me was that the fight was a "work" as in it was fixed to allow Kimbo to win. In my analysis, it looked as if Cantrell was staring into the fists of fury that Kimbo was about to unleash on his head and didn't want any of it. It's widely known that Kimbo has thunder in his hands and Cantrell obviously hates that kind of punishment. You can call it a "work" all you want, but Cantrell was overmatched before he even entered.

Kimbo could be seen telling Shaw that he was upset at the fact he barely fought. I'd be a bit upset at the fact that all of the training and hype surrounding me ended in a 17 second intimidation stoppage. Hopefully Kimbo will get a test in his next fight, I'd be interested in seeing a guy with some decent defensive standup and a good ground game taking on Kimbo.

Australia gets a new ambassador

I've been fairly critical of the Australian mixed martial arts scene recently. The only real fighter that they've had come out of the country was Elvis Sinosic, and he seems to be the UFC's fallback cannon fodder. Although he's excellent in ju-jitsu, he's small for his weight class and seems to always be fed to bigger strikers. The problem for me is every time I think of Sinosic, I think of the fight in which he was submitted via chin to eye by Chris Haseman back in the old Aussie Vale Tudo days, ahh the memories. Noke, on the other hand, seems to have some impressive tools in his arsenal. HIs boxing still needs some improvement, but his ground tactics were excellent. He was able to withstand Kleinbeck's initial standup strikes and take Kleinbeck down easily for a choke win. EliteXC has a nice prospect on their hands and it will give another look at the Australian progressive in MMA. Also look out for George Sotiropoulos, currently a cast member on this season of the Ultimate Fighter. He's another guy who could propel the MMA scene down under.

Antonio Silva once again being mentioned as a Fedor beater

Ridiculous claims once again are surfacing. Antonio Silva hasn't fought since February of this year, and finally came down to 265 and looked impressive against Jason Wiezorek. At one point in his career, he was the man that could give Fedor problems, which I firmly believe could be a possibility. Making claims that he is now ready to take on the Russian is outright ridiculous though. We need to see Silva against a couple more opponents before something like that could happen. He has some awesome potential to be a very intimidating presence in the heavyweight divison though. His striking is heavy and he has a good ground game. He also has some surprising agility and can pull of some flying knees in the clinch. He is another big heavyweight that can make the cut from the looks of it and present big problems in the division. We may see him in the UFC or M-1 later down the line.

EliteXC pulls the streams for the preliminaries

A business opportunity or the cost of streaming the events is mounting? Which is it? I believe it's the latter. I was looking forward to watching the preliminaries on ProElite.com on Saturday only to find out that I would not be able to. One of the appeals to the organization for me was that I could watch the entire card without having to pay for the preliminary bouts. I bought Showtime for the simple fact that they have some decent movies at times, boxing, and mixed martial arts. I pay for Showtime. Give us back the streams!

Final thoughts on the evening

With the two controversial fights headlining the EliteXC's card, it was inevitable that the event would be deemed a disappointment. It felt like it was when I was tuning in for the event. The Diaz-Noons fight was just beginning to get interesting due to the fact that Diaz is one of the toughest fighters out there. If he could have had a few more rounds to work, we may have seen a miraculous comeback from Diaz. Instead, it was stopped after the first round. I can't complain about the stoppage, but I would have loved to see more.

Kimbo didn't live up to the hype, only because his opponent decided to tap out because he was "scared" of the beatdown he was about to receive. EliteXC needs to put a quality opponent against Kimbo for his next fight. I'm not talking about somebody who is 10-0, but give him an up-and-coming prospect who also has some decent potential to be a good mixed martial arts fighter. I'd love to see if Kimbo's ground tactics have progressed as well.

I want to see more of Antonio Silva. His size and abilities interest me and it was amazing to me that he was in such great shape for the fight at 265 lbs. EliteXC can also set up the Eric Pele rematch and bring in some bigger heavyweights to take him on. M-1 could be a potential partner in that kind of venture as well. Jake Shields seems to be in the same position. Great potential, but needs some significant steps up in competition. It will be interesting to see who EliteXC can draw into the promotion to fight Shields. Shields should also teach Diaz how to shoot with some aggressiveness.

Overall, the event wasn't horrible, but in the arena of mediocrity. The two top fights didn't live to the explosiveness that I had hoped, but for very different reasons. The two lower main card battles weren't too impressive, but they were entertaining. I would have liked to see the Yves Edwards fight on the main card. Many people write him off completely due to his last few losses, but they were against some ranked opponents. The potential for future cards looks to be pretty damn good however. They have some talent coming in from ShoXC and grabbing up Noke and Silva was good for the promotion. Hopefully, their next event will feature some great matchups.

Since I'm really not completely interested in an in-depth capacity to most of these issues, I'm going to go through a simple rundown, a bit of analysis, a bit of opinion, and some thoughts for everyone to think about when it comes to the recent news that has been flooding the MMA community in the last few days. The rundown will include the death of PRIDE, Fedor Emelianenko rumors, Rashad Evans will take on Michael Bisping, Nick Diaz's new interview, and more news. Let's get into it.

Death of PRIDE

Zach Arnold over at FightOpinion has some pretty good breakdowns up of the PRIDE shutdown in Tokyo. Yahoo Japan reported on Thursday night that Jamie Pollack, the Zuffa-appointed legal advisor who was spearheading the operations in Japan for the newly bought PRIDE, has shut down the PRIDE Worldwide Office in Tokyo. Pollack apparently fired all the employees with a telephone call. The Japanese media coverage is pretty extensive with many reactions from current fighters in Japan and organizers. K-1 matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa, Shinya Aoki, and DEEP promoter Shigeru Saeki had comments that you can check out. A really eerie situation.

My thoughts are that Zuffa really dropped the ball here. Instead of buying PRIDE and using the already established name that PRIDE had built up in the Japanese MMA community, a community that is one of the largest in the world, Zuffa decided to buy contracts, then kept the fate of PRIDE in limbo for so long that there was nothing they could really do with it. I'm by no means a huge expert on the Japanese MMA community, but I do feel the PRIDE name in Japan was something that they should have kept around due to the popularity of the promotion.

Secondly, Zuffa's representation in Japan should have at least given some kind of warning or a few weeks notice that the organization was going to be shutdown and there would be a D-Day as far as when the company would close its doors. The repercussions of the actions that occurred has now caused much of the Japanese media to criticize Zuffa. It damages some momentum of a possible entry with a new MMA promotion or an extension of the UFC promotion into Japan, if there was any momentum to begin with. With all sorts of rumors regarding a possible UFC-WOWOW television deal in Japan, it's obvious that Zuffa will be entering the MMA market in Japan in the future. This series of events won't bode well for the hype they can generate there. In the end, the MMA community there may just shrug it off and enjoy the potential MMA that they will get to see from the new promotion that Zuffa will provide. We won't know until they hit the Asian market, but this shutdown of the PRIDE offices in the manner that it was done will not help them.

Lastly, I've heard many rumors circulating on a possible UFC Japan promotion. No idea whether it will be a new MMA promotion by Zuffa that will be in Japan or if it will be an extension of the current promotion in the U.S., but I'm sure it will swap fighters and provide a base in Japan for new talent. This is obviously all up in the air and isn't a confirmed rumor. I've only heard some things from Japanese media outlets that have been floating around on an April-May start to the organization. I've also heard that Zuffa would be hiring a Japanese marketing firm to do the advertising, which is a very smart idea. Either WOWOW or the primary Satellite PPV carrier over there that dealt with PRIDE will get the deal, and it'll be a huge moneymaking venture when you have an audience of over 300 million with access to the PPV. Granted, you won't get that many people buying it obviously, but it's still a huge audience of potentially over 1 million buys and probably even more than that. Anyways, this is all purely speculative and my sources aren't completely reliable, but do work for media outlets in Japan. Purely something to think about and hopefully will happen. I will say that they will make a move into the Japanese market, they have to with all the rumored dealings with WOWOW.

Fedor Emelianenko signs with new Russian organization

According to TAGG Radio and Frank Trigg, Fedor Emelianenko has signed with a new Russian MMA promotion that consists of some former M-1 people that were part of the M-1 promotion and apparently some new backers as well. The contract is supposedly for $10 million, and no word on how many fights, or if it's a deal that locks him into the promotion to do whatever they want with him as far as sponsorships, etc. Trigg stated that his source was inside the Emelianenko camp, but he did state later in the segment that he really didn't believe that deal had happened because a Russian organization couldn't make their money back on such a huge deal because there would be no star power to fight Fedor.

I actually somewhat agree with Trigg's assessment. Russia isn't exactly a huge money market. They are going to be promoting the organization solely on the fact that Fedor has superstar status in Russia, and people will want to see him fight. For MMA fans, people want to see him fight someone worth a damn. Josh Barnett vs. Fedor Emelianenko has been one of the most anticipated battles that many fans have wanted to see for quite some time. That would sell to the MMA fans, but a fight that features Fedor Emelianenko against former drunken power station worker/ex-KGB officer who started training MMA a year ago would not be something we would rush to see. It really depends who they can get to fight Fedor. If the contract consists of Fedor getting $10 million, but has to do whatever their organization says he has to do including sponsorships, mass media promotional stuff like commercials, etc., then maybe it would pan out as a profit due to the fact that Fedor could make up to $50 million in advertising for an organization. They grab $40 million, he takes his already determined $10 million. This was one of the points Trigg said could be a possibility. It definitely sounds like an old school way of a contract, but who knows what's going on.

Fedor should be signing with the UFC if he really wants to fight the best in the world. Obviously the knock against the former PRIDE heavyweights and former PRIDE fighters in general has grown since "Shogun" Rua lost to Forrest Griffin, and the lackluster 5-7 record of former PRIDE fighters vs. the UFC Competition. If Fedor doesn't sign with the UFC, say goodbye to his #1 ranking and to be honest, many fans would be utterly disappointed. I'm sure his representation could care less and I wouldn't doubt that they are trying to profit off of his legendary name, but no Fedor in the UFC is ridiculous.

Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping headlines UFC 78?

This is a rather disappointing fight. I'm somewhat interested in what the preview segment will look like for this event. "Rashad Evans, coming off one of the most lackluster, boring, and downright hesitant performances of his career against Tito Ortiz, he will be looking to prove his worth against Michael Bisping. Bisping recently came off a robbery win over Matt Hamill, who nearly 90% of the MMA community feels won, thank you Jeff Mullen and Cecil Peoples." I just don't get it. And yes, that statement had some personal opinions in it. The first part is what I was getting at. Evans was utterly disappointing against Ortiz, but I think if he watches the video of the Hamill fight, he will realize that Bisping had literally zero takedown defense. I mean, if I could say something less than "zero", like maybe he had a "negative" takedown defense in that battle, I would. Rashad's strength will be his shoots in the bout. Bisping will be looking to thrash him with strikes. Rashad's boxing skills were horrible in the Ortiz fight, so I wouldn't be looking for a standup war. That's my initial analysis, a classic striker vs. wrestler matchup. I will say that it could potentially be exciting if...

• Evans actually shoots more than 2 times during the entire fight. He needs to try for at least 7-10 takedowns, much like a Jake Shields would do against a heavy striker.
• Bisping has some kind of takedown defense. It baffles me that he trained with Rampage Jackson and didn't learn to sprawl or identify a shoot. Was Hamill's ability that deceptive?
• It could be real exciting if Evans decides to show off some improved striking like Hamill did and surprises Bisping.

Those are the only ways I see of that fight doing anything as far as excitement goes. It's possible, but I've never been a fan of Rashad's style. He isn't much of a finisher in my mind, and for as much as he bobs and weaves, it would seem he would have much better boxing. Anyways, for right now, this fight seems like a crappy filler main event until December.

Nick Diaz interview on the Jordan Breen Show

Head on over to Sherdog and listen to the Jordan Breen show as he did an interview with probably the best interviewee you can find in the world of MMA, Nick Diaz. Some of the more interesting talk was the Diaz rant about the Vegas fighters who are at Xtreme Couture's gym that used to be in California with Cesar Gracie. Notably, I loved the quotes regarding Tyson Griffin and Dave Camarillo and how they betrayed them. Diaz also called out Tyson Griffin, and challenged someone to set up the fight between one of his guys or himself against Tyson Griffin.

For the second time he's been interviewed by Sherdog, he ranted about the food industry and organic foods, talked about the weed issue a little bit, but the bigger news out of it was the fact that Nick stated he had hired a Public Relations firm to handle him as far as interviews so he could be more well prepared for interview, promotions, and advertising. It was very ironic considering he still ranted on about various aspects of the MMA world even though he somewhat hinted at the fact that he would be a bit more restrained. Classic Nick Diaz and I'm glad he didn't restrain himself.

The highlight of the interview was when Breen asked Diaz about the Mark Moreno fight that he was scheduled on October 20th with the No Limit Fighting promotion. Diaz had no knowledge of the event and ranted about promotions stealing his name and putting him on posters when he hadn't ever given them authorization. Apparently, Diaz has no knowledge of the October 20th event, and he put some skepticism into the event's card actually being legitimate. As far as the fight goes, Diaz sounded like he would not be fighting. Diaz also stated that his staph infection was possibly due to rolling around on an old ring that he and Jake Shields were using at one point during some training.

Kimbo vs. Tank is off

Cage Fury Fighting Championships is now cancelled for their Oct 12th event featuring Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott. To be honest, this battle wasn't that interesting as far as the actual fight due to the fact that Tank gasses in about 2 minutes, but I was rather disappointed at the fact that we would not get to see what type of fighter Kimbo has become since his last fight with Ray Mercer. Kimbo has been training with the legendary Bas Rutten. It will be interesting as to who will pick Kimbo up as he is a big name on the Internet due to his various underground fight videos on the Internet and the infamous video of he and his crew paying a kid to literally get flying tackled by Kimbo. EliteXC could be potential suitor or Strikeforce. He's definitely a name that many casual fans may know and could draw some extra buys for an event.

Hardcore Fighting Championships replaces Edwin Dewees with Sean Salmon

Salmon is a bit of a paradox in the MMA community. Most fighters usually communicate through MySpace or through interviews and don't give us a look inside the world of MMA. Sean Salmon has reached cult status as he had partnered with MMAJunkie.com and wrote a small column on the site chronicling his training and rise through the MMA ranks. After some unsuccessful fights in the UFC, notably losing to Rashad Evans via a highlight reel kick to the head, he was allowed to fight in lower organizations with only 1 fight left on his UFC contract. He has been doing fairly well, just recently winning his biggest battle in which he defeated Mikko Rupponen (16-5-2) in Finland. He improved his record to 13-4 overall in his career and now will be facing Marcus Vinicios (4-3) at the HFC card on October 19th.

Salmon will be fighting for the first time at 185 pounds and this could be intriguing for many reasons. First, Salmon is rolling right now, rolling right through some quality opponents and some not-so quality opponents. Defeating Rupponen was definitely an impressive victory that had to of given Sean a huge confidence boost. Secondly, if he can be impressive at 185 lbs, it could be a good career move as the 205 lb. division in the UFC is so unbelievably stacked, he'd stand almost no chance at moving up the ladder. At least at 185 lbs., there is some chance of getting near the top and possibly facing the upper echelon with some kind of chance to win.

No matter what you think of Salmon, the guy has a cult following that loves the fact that he let fans into the inner workings of his training sessions, fights, and everyday thoughts. More importantly, we got to see the side of a fighter that is rarely revealed, the mental game. I look forward to watch him battle it out with Marcus Vinicios and I hope his transition to 185 goes well for him.

More later...

This was just a small rundown of some of the events that have been going on recently in MMA. I will be back with some in-depth analysis of some upcoming cards and some of the current MMA news going on around the world. Read up on the previous articles regarding some of the non-mainstream events going on around the country and in Asia. There are definitely some great cards going on.

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.

Fresh off all the news of the barrage of acquisitions including King of the Cage and ICON Sport¹, EliteXC flies into Honolulu, Hawaii this Saturday night for the EliteXC Uprising show. It will air on Showtime at 10 PM EST and will feature an unification title bout between Robbie "Ruthless" Lawler and Murilo "Ninja" Rua. The card itself is very interesting and one of the better non-UFC fight cards we've seen late this year. It will include the return of Nick Diaz, fresh off his suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for having elevated levels of THC in his blood system for the fight over Takanori Gomi at PRIDE 33: Second Coming.² Also, he has been a big name in the media lately with outlandish interviews involving his marijuana use.³ Jake Shields will face "Charuto" and Gina Carano will try to extend her unbeaten streak against Tonya Evinger. Let's take a closer in-depth look at these matchups.

The Breakdown: Robbie "Ruthless" Lawler vs. Murilo "Ninja" Rua
Up for grabs: ICON/EliteXC Unification Middleweight Championship

Robbie is the current ICON Sport Middleweight Champion, attaining the title by defeating Frank Trigg in the 4th round by KO at ICON Sport - Epic in March. He currently has an impressive 14-4 record, and is on a three fight win streak. His last loss was against Jason "Mayhem" Miller, and his most notable losses were against Nick Diaz and Evan Tanner. Two of those losses via submissions and one being at the hands of Nick Diaz in a spectacular late 2nd round knockout at UFC 47. Lawler's main strength is his standup fighting. Ten of his 14 wins have ended via knockout or technical knockout. As evident in many of his fights, he likes to punch and has a load of power to back it up. He is very aggressive, almost to the point of recklessness.

One of Robbie's great strengths is his ability to use his awesome power to take down opponents and pound them. He can also use his power much like "Rampage" Jackson likes to use his strength to nullify takedown attempts and turn the pace onto his opponent. Lawler's power can be used not only in his powerful striking game, but also as a defensive tool. He can easily dodge an incoming attack and powerfully tackle an opponent to the ground, much like his training partner, Matt Hughes. He has on more than one occassion body slammed opponents in the Octagon with little difficulty. In many of his fights, he has brutally ground and pounded past opponent's guards like they were paper. Because of his aggressive style, he loves to push the pace and generally throws huge bombs as he charges forward. This is one weakness that Nick Diaz exploited during their bout. He was able to catch Lawler late in the 2nd as he charges in, and then was able to hit him with a short stiff jab that knocked Lawler out.

Murilo "Ninja" Rua is the current EliteXC Middleweight Champion. He is coming off a win over Joey Villasenor, and is also on a three fight win streak. Rua's name is most notably associated with current UFC Light Heavyweight, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. "Ninja" Rua is his older brother, and does possess some of the same skills coming out of the Chute Box Academy in Brazil. Unfortunately, Murilo hasn't had the same devastating success his brother has had. Murilo has been the victim of some brutal knockouts in his career. He was knocked out in :15 seconds at PRIDE Bushido Survival 2006 by Denis Kang and in 4:14 seconds at PRIDE Total Elimination 2004 by Sergei Kharitonov. He currently holds a 14-7 records, 5 wins by knockout, 7 by submission, and 1 draw.

Rua is a Muay Thai, Brazilian ju-jitsu fighter who mainly likes to take the fight wherever his opponents want to take it. Much like his younger brother, Murilo will stand with his opponent as he sees fit. He has some great knockout power, but has a very good ju-jitsu ground game to supplement his standup if the fight goes to the ground. Most fighters try to keep the fight on its feet, but Murilo's standup game is impressive. Much like Lawler, Murilo is aggressive, likes to push the pace of the fight, and has some devastating power in his hands and knees. He's been known to come out with flying knees much like Lawler has done in the past. He also has a poweful clinch to set up his knees with. Against Joey Villasenor, Murilo literally landed haymakers at will on Villasenor's face. He threw huge right hands and rushed in with knees to push the pace and the fight into the fence.

Predictions

Two big name fighters coming from legendary fight camps in Miletich Fighting Systems and Chute Box. Two unbelievably aggressive competitors who has knockout power. Obviously, this fight is more than likely going to end in a knockout. I doubt that fighters of this caliber will last to a decision. Lawler is a very aggressive, powerful striker, but loves to plow people into the mat and rain huge punches onto his opponent. Murilo loves to push the pace, land the big jab and knees, and when down on the mat, use his ju-jitsu to try to isolate an arm or leg and sink in the submission.

I'm going to have to go with Robbie Lawler on this one. In Murilo's last fight, he threw huge haymaker punches that were landing at will on Villasenor. Lawler is a very good boxer, and I've seen much better defensive boxing skills from him than from Villasenor. Villasenor had the power to knock out Murilo, but he wasn't able to dodge any of his huge slow haymakers that should have been avoided. That will be much different against Lawler. Another factor is the clinch. In a good number of Murilo's fights, he's been able to clinch his opponent and throw knees into the midsection to weaken his opponent. Lawler's power is just too much to handle in that situation. I believe if Murilo tries to move in for the clinch, he will get brutally thrown down and become vulnerable to a big right hand from Lawler. I'm going to take Robbie Lawler via knockout in the 1st round of this battle. These two just have too much power for this to go the distance or even possibly the 2nd round. Murilo's only chance is to catch him with a shot or submit Lawler on the ground.

The Breakdown: Jake Shields vs. Renato "Charuto" Verissimo

Jake Shields is one of the most well known 170 lbs. fighters that is not on the main stage in the UFC. He's mainly a wrestler and a world renowned ju-jitsu fighter who is a former Shooto World Champion. He holds an 18-4 record with notable wins over Carlos Condit, Yushin Okami, Dave Menne, and Hayato Sakurai. He's currently on a seven fight win streak, submitting Ido Pariente in his last fight at K-1 Dynamite. Shields is a product of the Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and has trained fighters such as Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez in the past.

Jake Shields is becoming a real freak of nature. He has unbelievable wrestling skills and has added extensive ju-jitsu mastery to his game since he first started out. He is considered one of the better ju-jitsu fighters in the world. He placed 3rd in his weight class at the ADCC Championships in 2005, if that gives you any indication. He also has been training at Chuck Liddell's kickboxing academy and cross training with the professional Muay Thai kickboxing team at the Fairtex combat Academy, training with legendary Muay Thai Champions, Jongsanan Fairtex and Alex Gong.³ He's added to his standup game, but still likes to take the game to the ground whenever possibly. Shields isn't well known for his knockout power and has a majority of his wins via decision, 10 out of his 18.

Renato "Charuto" Verissimo is probably best known for being BJ Penn's ju-jitsu instructor. He was also the showcase on an episode of TapouT this season.⁴ To those of us who follow MMA closely, "Charuto" is a name that became known during UFC 48 when he took on Matt Hughes. At the time, Renato came into the bout with a 4-0-1 record. He was beaten by Hughes by a controversial unanimous decision and then moved on to fight Frank Trigg, also dropping that bout due to TKO strikes in the second round. He had ran up against some of the top competition of the UFC and been beaten down pretty badly. He rattled of a small win at Rumble of the Rock, and then hit two more roadblocks, Carlos Condit and Kuniyoshi Hironaka. He took a year off after his last two losses and has now rectified himself with a two fight win streak. He is now hitting that wall again in a very tough competitor in Jake Shields.

Renato's style is ju-jitsu, plain and simple. He grew up in Brazil learning Brazilian ju-jitsu and was able to earn a black belt in ju-jitsu. He later moved to Hawaii and became the main influence in BJ Penn's ju-jitsu game. What can we really expect from "Charuto"? Expect some type of ground attack to supplement his ju-jitsu. Both of these competitors have a similar style. Neither fighter has brutal knockout power, but both have outstanding grappling skills. The X factor is Jake's acquired Muay Thai and kickboxing. In the past, he has shown some decent kicks that have dazed opponents or set up some great takedowns. Verissimo suffered a brutal knee to the head from Carlos Condit that destroyed any chance of him recovering and winning that fight.

Predictions

Jake Shields, all day, period. Although I respect "Charuto"'s world renowned ju-jitsu ground game, Shields is also very versed in ju-jitsu as well as having a phenomenol wrestling background. I am also leaning toward Shields because "Charuto" hasn't shown a very good standup game, and I find it doubtful that he will be able to clinch and knee Shields like he was able to do against Lars Haven early in the bout at ICON-Epic. I don't think Shields will be able to finish "Charuto", but I do feel confident he will be able to stuff his takedowns, keep it up if he wants, but ultimately mount and pound "Charuto" into an unanimous decision win.

The Breakdown: Nick Diaz vs. Mike Aina

Nick Diaz is coming of his recent suspension by the NSAC after testing positive for high levels of THC in his system after the Takanori Gomi win at PRIDE 33: Second Coming. Nick was also not allowed to corner his brother Nate Diaz at the Ultimate Fighter finale and was barred from competing at a Shooto card in California in August. He is finally off suspension and the real question of the night is, will Nick pass the drug test? If he does, this fight could very well be the spectacular knockout of the night.

Nick Diaz comes in after an impressive win over Takanori Gomi in which Diaz executed one of the most difficult submissions in ju-jitsu, the gogoplata, to win a slugfest of a matchup. Easily already one of the best fights of the year. Diaz will be coming into this fight with a 14-6 record, with notable wins over Gomi, Fickett, Lawler, and Neer. He has went the distance with Sean Sherk, Joe Riggs, and Diego Sanchez, and also fought Joe Riggs in the hospital after the matchup.⁵ Diaz's personality is one of the most controversial issues when he fights. Very outspoken, Diaz literally fits the "shit" talking street thug image that some people view fighters as. He backs down to noone, talks so much "smack" talk that he literally runs on a sentence for over 20 minutes, ie. Sherdog radio interview with Nick Diaz this week, and at times, has glimpses of genius and honesty that many people find refreshing to hear from an MMA fighter.

Diaz has world class ju-jitsu, taught to him at Cesar Gracie Academy in California. He recently was promoted to a black belt in May 2007, and also sports an aggressive standup boxing game along with a stiff chin and a "no guts no glory" attitude. Diaz is becoming a complete package. He has been training with former WBA and WBC World Champion, Luisito Espinosa, to supplement his boxing skills. He has shown in previous fights that he can take brutal punishment yet still throw huge punches that land cleanly and accurately throughout a matchup.

Mike Aina is a BJ Penn MMA fighter with an 8-5-1 record fighting out of Hawaii. He doesn't have an impressive record against impressive fighters. His most recent win over Rick Screeton didn't prove much since Screeton is well below a 50% win percentage in a 6-11 record. Aina's most notable loss was against Roger Huerta when Aina was first starting out in MMA. Aina has a highlight reel out there, if anyone wants to check it out. To be perfectly honest, Aina has a looping haymaker style that was fairly slow. He was able to knockout some opponents by pushing them back into the fence and landing huge haymakers, but didn't show great knockout power in any of his highlights. Look for Aina to definitely try to bully Diaz around the cage and basically hope to catch him.

Predictions

Nick Diaz via 1st round KO. Diaz has ridiculous cardio, way better boxing, and an unbelievable ground game. He's a black belt in ju-jitsu, trained by a former world champion in boxing, and has ran triathlons and actually placed in the top 5. Even if he gets caught, his cardio is so great that he would most likely recover within seconds. Aina's knockout power wasn't evident in the video I saw of him. The fighters that Aina faced were very sloppy boxers with poor defense. Diaz is far from that. Look for Aina to either get immediately knocked out, or for him to get frustrated with Diaz's superior boxing. Diaz will be able to pick him apart.

The Breakdown: Gina Carano vs. Tonya Evinger

Is this fight relevant? Evinger said she would make out with Gina Carano. Carano should just come out to the center of the cage and say "I'm a lover, not a fighter." Come on! Anyways.. back to reality people. Gina Carano is probably the most recognized female fighter in MMA. She's not exactly the best fighter in MMA since many of the Japanese female competitors are very good, but she is gorgeous, marketable, and always improving her MMA game to new levels. She will be tested against the rising Tonya Evinger.

Gina Carano, like many American female fighters, has an extensive background in Muay Thai. She compiled a 12-1-1 record before switching to MMA. She trains with Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Nevada and is coming into her current bout with a 4-0 record in MMA. She's been featured in many mainstream media stories, and was also the star of a movie called "Ring Girls" in which she traveled to Thailand to face champion Thai fighters. This spun off into the show called "Fight Girls!" on the Oxygen network in which Gina helped Master Toddy mold the girls to fight and win in Thailand.

Tonya Evinger is a straight knockout fighter with some wrestling abilities. She definitely uses her size to move in on opponents and score big punches. A key matchup to look at with Evinger is her fight against Ginelle Marquez-Lee. Ginelle was technically more sound than Evinger, while Evinger mainly tried to push the smaller Ginelle around. She used her massive height and reach to eventually beat Ginelle, but Evinger's punches were slow, sloppy, and weak. The shorter Ginelle was even able to land some serious knee strikes to the much larger Evinger. Ginelle almost beat Evinger at the end of the 2nd round with a leg triangle and showed Evinger's weak ground defense. Evinger was also having cardio problems in the 3rd round. Overall, Evinger still has many flaws that Gina will be able to exploit.

Predictions

Gina Carano by 2nd round TKO/KO. Looking at Evinger's last bout, she looked fairly sloppy in her standup, enough to really allow Carano to exploit her open defenses and possibly throw a few good kicks and punches into Evinger to take this bout fairly handily.

The Breakdown: Joey Villasenor vs. Riki Fukuda

Joey Villasenor comes into this bout after a recent loss to "Ninja" Rua at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Baroni. He sports a 23-6 record that looks better than it sounds. He's hit huge roadblocks as of lately wins big losses to Lawler, Chonan, and Rua. He has yet to really break into the top ranks. Villasenor trains out at Greg Jackson's camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Riki Fukuda has an 8-2 record with vast wrestling background. His most notable bout was his loss to Joe Doerkson by decision. The bout surprised many MMA fans considering Doerkson's vast experience to Fukuda's next to none experience, but impressive wrestling ability.

Villasenor is a great striker fighter with some grappling skills on the ground, but much prefers to strike with his opponents. He has been susceptible to opponents who have pushed the pace on his much like what Rua and Lawler both did in their fights. Villasenor does have some great leg kicking skils, decent clinches, and fairly basic takedowns. He is very vulnerable to the takedown himself and has shown in the past some poor defensive skills on the ground, ie. Chonan bout.

Fukuda is a straight wrestler with good ground and pound skills, but also likes to strike on his feet and use his kicks as well. Look for him to try to take Villasenor to the ground and respect his standup game and possibly try to win this via decision.

Predictions

I can't really convince myself that Fukuda is going to stick to a gameplan and try to take Villasenor down. I think Fukuda may try to strike with him and Villasenor may KO him early in the match. I will say that this bout could potentially be the upset of the night. I'm going to take Villasenor by 2nd round TKO. Bet some money on Fukuda though for a chance at a decision win.

Undercard Predictions

Tyson Nam over Albert Manners via judge's decision
- Unimpressive wins by Manners, Nam seems to be much quicker, much more dodgy, and uses his leg kicks well. Manners also seems to be vulnerable to.. everything.

Chad "The White Collar Brawler" Klingensmith over Brandon Wolff via 2nd round TKO/KO
- Wolff has some unimpressive wins against some tomato can fighters, where as Klingensmith has an impressive win over Barrantes. Klingensmith seems to have some huge size and power, along with some brutal ground and pound, and unbelievable cardio.

Kolo Koka over Justin Bucholz via 1st round TKO/KO
- It's a stretch to think he can knock out Bucholz, but Bucholz has fought terrible competition. Even his loss was against a very unseasoned fighter. I'll rely on Koka's experience to get him the big win here.

Mark Oshiro over Nui Wheeler via 1st round TKO/KO
- Seeing as Mark has knocked out some of the guys already fighting on this card, and this is Nui Wheeler's first MMA bout, I'm picking Oshiro's strong standup to win.

Kala Hose over Jeff Cox via 1st round TKO/KO
- I once saw Jeff Cox get obliterated in :15 seconds flat by Thiago Alves. He has a weak chin, and Hose is going to exploit it early

That's it everyone, that's one of the longest cards I've seen in awhile. A lot of decent local talent on the undercard. There are also two other fights, one pitting Jose Diaz against newcomer Mark Kurano and Elias Delosruyes vs. Chico Cantiberos. Two fights I'm really not interested in at all. Everyone tune in to EliteXC on Showtime at 10 PM EST on Saturday night, and hopefully this will be an amazing card.

Pictures courtesy of the UFC, and Gina Carano's website, http://www.gina-carano.com/.