With the recent success of the EliteXC: Uprising event and the high-valued acquisitions of fighters such as Murilo Rua, Robbie Lawler, and Nick Diaz, the potential for EliteXC to bring some major competition to the U.S. MMA market has certainly heated up. After the Uprising event in Hawaii, the question around the MMA community has been… what kind of competition can EliteXC really bring in for the fighters they have at the top?
Ignore the logical choices right now and let’s take a look at some of the potential matchups we could see or could possibly be set into motion. Since EliteXC has bought many organizations such as Cage Rage, King of the Cage, ICON Sport, and also has partnerships with Strikeforce and K-1 Hero’s in the past. EliteXC has also an invested interest with Spirit MC in Korea, a very interesting development in the Asian market.
U.S. markets
In the U.S. market of MMA fighters, who can really come in and be put up against some of the big fighters in EliteXC? Jake Shields recently won his bout with BJ Penn’s ju-jitsu instructor, Renato “Charuto” Verissimo. It has since caused heated discussion as to who would be up for fighting Jake Shields. Currently, as a base for argument, Shields is ranked #9 in the world on the Sherdog.com rankings. The top 7 fighters in the Welterweight rankings are all in contracts with the UFC. Who can Jake Shields possibly fight then?
One name that has been dropped numerous times is Frank Trigg. There has been talk even before the Uprising event that Trigg and Shields had agreed to fight. According to Trigg, a host on TAGGRadio, there was a breakdown in the negotiation and some terms were not met. Shields made some post fight comments stating that he’d fight Frank Trigg at a catchweight. Shields fought Verissimo at a catchweight of 175 lbs. Trigg normally fights at 185 lbs. (Middleweight).
Is someone like Heleno of the IFL a potential fight that Jake Shields could lose? Doubtful. It is also very doubtful that the IFL would want to let go of a guy who has been fairly successful in the IFL. Shields has also proven to be able to beat top-level ju-jitsu fighters. Someone like Chris Lytle might be a decent fight to attract some attention, or possibly Shields has a better chance of attracting a foreign market fighter unless he fights Frank Trigg. What about a co-promotion with Strikeforce again with a Joe Riggs vs. Jake Shields matchup at 170 lbs? I’m not too interested in that fight, but always a possibility.
Nick Diaz is another fighter in EliteXC that will have a tough time attracting a U.S. Market fight. In the U.S. market, I don’t believe you can really match anyone up against Nick Diaz that isn’t already in the UFC. Mike Aina gave him a run for his money, but Nick is only going to get better the more he fights. The biggest U.S. Lightweight that has the potential to fight Nick is Gilbert Melendez, but they do train together and are products of the same gym. Don’t get your hopes up on that potential matchup. Joachim Hansen is also floating around out there, but there has been rumors he may sign with the UFC. As long as he’s in the U.S. negotiating, EliteXC should take a stab and give him a couple of fights as a precursor to a Diaz-Hansen clash.
Foreign Markets
These are the MMA markets with the most potential for EliteXC. Not only have they acquired a British MMA organizaton, but they have also invested interest in a Korean MMA promotion as well. ICON Sport and Rumble of the Rock were huge in Hawaii, which attracted a lot of Japanese talent as well. Potentially, EliteXC has the resources to branch out and create huge fights for their fighters in EliteXC, but also their fighters in other promotions.
Let’s take a look at some of the great fighters in EliteXC and how the U.S. promotion can really benefit from those international hookups. First up, Nick Diaz. Takanori Gomi has yet to sign anywhere, and I believe he has stated that he can begin talking contracts at the end of September. If EliteXC can get in there and really put up a good number to get him, we may see a rematch of quite possibly the best match of the year at PRIDE 33.
But what about EliteXC’s partnerships in the past? Does K-1 Heroes sound familiar? I’m very curious to see if EliteXC would try to do a co-promotion again with K-1. There are so many potential matchups for Nick Diaz. “Kid” Yamamoto would probably be a dream matchup for the hardcore MMA fans. “Shaolin” Ribeiro would be a ground game chess match as well, especially after recently being destroyed by “JZ” Calvancanti. I think he’d be very willing to take a Nick Diaz fight on a co-promotion card. Calvancanti is obviously another possible matchup as well. Where is Mitsuhiro Ishida? The #9 ranked lightweight in the world on MMAWeekly’s rankings, he just fought in Cage Wars in Ireland in April. He’d be another international pickup, in any of EliteXC’s organizations. Jean Silva from Cage Rage might be a decent matchup as well for Diaz.
For Robbie Lawler, I’m not completely sure what he can do with EliteXC. I think he should really move to the UFC for a potential run at the title after a few fights, but I think there is one long shot matchup I’d love to see. Denis Kang signed with K-1 Hero’s just recently. Also, he’s promised to fight for Spirit MC under an agreement for one fight per year. Since he is part Korean, he stipulated that he wanted to fight in front of his heritage. Either by a K-1 co-promotion or a Spirit MC super fight in Korea, Robbie Lawler vs. Denis Kang would be possibly explosive. Jake Shields doesn’t have many options internationally either since most of the welterweight ranked fighters are in the UFC and in the United States. I see Shields either leaving EliteXC and heading to the UFC or fighting some potential fights from IFL fighters, maybe Antonio McKee, which was rumored to be slated before “Charuto”. Like I mentioned before, Delson Heleno is a possibility as well.
Looking ahead
The next EliteXC fight card is going to be interesting to see, and the subsequent cards after. Who will EliteXC bring in to fight some of these big names? They presented us with a very good card in Uprising and I think the potential and excitement for future EliteXC cards is very high. Hopefully, they sign some key fighters, possibly using some of their partnerships to draw in some co-promotions, and use the new talent they have obtained to really introduce us to some new stars. In my own dream world, an EliteXC-Hero’s co-promotion would provide some huge fireworks for those hardcore fans who follow Hero’s. For the most part, this article provides a few options that EliteXC may be considering. If any of you have any suggestions of guys you want to hear about or fighters that I may have heard of, but did not mention, email me at lr@mma-analyst.com or leave a comment. I’d love to hear from the fans.
Most of these matchups probably will never see the light of day, but the point of this article is to start conversation. I want to hear some picks from other fans.