Another installment of EliteXC's proving ground will take place on Friday night with a ShoXC event from the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The card features BodogFIGHT veteran Eddie Alvarez vs. Ross "The Boss" Ebanez, and the debut of British knockout artist Paul Daley vs. TUF contestant Sammy Morgan. Tonya Evinger, Julie Kedzie, Kala Kolohe Hose, and a number of newcomers will also throw down in the cage. Ten matchups will be featured, and the event will be aired on Showtime at 11 PM EST. Let's break this card down.

Eddie Alvarez vs. Ross Ebanez

Alvarez (11-1) is amazingly unknown to many fans throughout the MMA fanbase. His skills have only recently seen the light of day as he was one of the featured fighters in the BodogFIGHT promotion. He gained considerable recognition as the BodogFIGHT Welterweight champion producing some solid wins over Scott Henze and Aaron Riley. His lone loss was in April to Nick "The Goat" Thompson in a very heated battle that saw him lose his title. After a solid win over Matt Lee, Alvarez has moved his impressive record to greener pastures.

Alvarez doesn't have an easy task ahead of him. Ross Ebanez (16-5) is a solid veteran fighter who trains out of Hilo, Hawaii with BJ Penn. Although he doesn't sport the same skills that you would think are synonymous with Penn's skillset, Ebanez isn't a pushover. The only real problem in Ebanez's game is that he's went the distance in 6 out of his last 8 fights. It's obvious that he lacks the ability to finish opponents of higher competition. Alvarez will be no different.

Expect Alvarez to push the pace and throw a lot of leather. Eight out of his eleven wins are via TKO or KO, so it should be a straight forward win for Alvarez. Don't be too surprised if Ebanez can outlast the onslaught and take it the distance though.

Leland's Prediction: Alvarez via TKO/KO, Round 1
_____________________________

Paul Daley vs. Sammy Morgan

Daley (16-6-2) is a British striker with some impressive knockout power. He hasn't strayed away from the stereotypical style that many Brits have been labeled with, but it hasn't hurt him in his matchups as of yet. In his last 4 fights, he's won 3 of them by TKO/KO, and revenged a loss to Paul Jenkins by causing him to quit by a punch to the body at Cage Rage 21. With key wins over Duane Ludwig and Mark Weir recently, he's looking to make a splash in the American MMA scene.

Sammy Morgan (19-9) was on the reality series The Ultimate Fighter. He was unsuccessful in his UFC stint, but had picked up a good string of wins prior to the show. His primary skills revolve around the submission game, but he's recently taken to throwing ridiculously inaccurate haymakers.

In his battle with Cung Le, Morgan looked terrible in his standup game. It could prove to be his Achilles Heel against Daley. Daley's standup will be far superior, but Morgan will most likely look for the takedown and submission. Don't count Morgan out completely, but if he decides to stand, there's no reason Daley shouldn't put him away fantastically. Morgan also stated in the pre-fight interviews that he was going to knock out Daley, implying that he will play into Daley's strengths. Sounds like he didn't learn from Alessio Sakara vs. Houston Alexander.

Leland's Prediction: Paul Daley, TKO/KO, Round 2
_____________________________

Bobby McMaster vs. Bao Quach

This isn't a very interesting fight as far as prospects of moving up to elite status go, but it should be an entertaining brawl. McMaster (7-1) has a solid record, but his opponents have been low quality to say the least. His lone loss was to Muhsin Corbrey (6-2) via a choke at the October ShoXC show. He has some decent wrestling skill and power as well, and he's well-rounded enough to end the fight in either fashion

Bao Quach (11-8-1) is definitely more experienced out of the two fighters. He has power in his hands that was evident in his 4 fight KO streak late 2006 to early in 2007. He has a large number of decisions though which makes me wonder about his ability to finish fights. McMaster definitely seems more likely to finish a fight than Quach, and Quach doesn't appear to have amazing ground skills to counter a beating from McMaster.

Leland's Prediction: McMaster, submission, Round 2
_____________________________

Kala Kolohe Hose vs. Frederic Belleton

A battle of the middleweights that should produce a knockout victory for one of these two fighters, Kala Hose will take on Frederic Belleton. Kala (5-1) has been impressive in his two ICON Sport fights and one TKO win in EliteXC. He has awesome power and loves to brawl with no inclination to make a fight last any longer than a round.

Frederic (5-1) is riding a four fight win streak just like his opponent. He's shown the ability to knockout opponents, but did have some trouble early in his career in finishing. He's since steamrolled competition that was fairly lackluster. Expect this to be a step up.

Kala has a lot of power in his hands, and it wouldn't be surprising if he drops Frederic early in the first round. Frederic has some questionable wins as far as quality of his opponent goes. Fighting three newcomers to MMA and an 8-21 Jerry Spiegel isn't convincing. Kala has fought the same type of opponents as well, but he's shown ability to knockout opponents quickly. In his last three fights, he's only been in the cage a combined 2:05. I'll take Kala in this one.

Leland's Prediction: Kala Hose via TKO/KO, Round 1
_____________________________

Quick Hits
Tonya Evinger vs. Julie Kedzie

Kedzie (8-6) has more ability to make a fight go the distance, and Evinger (5-3) has a very weak submission defense. Both ladies have some decent striking power, but if Kedzie wants to finish, she should exploit Evinger’s terrible defense on the ground.

Leland's Prediction: Kedzie by submission, Round 3
_____________________________

Zach Makovsky vs. Wilson Reis

Battle of the undefeated, Makovsky (3-0) will look to finally finish an opponent in his MMA career. Three wins, all by decision, Makovsky will try to take out Wilson Reis (2-0). Both fighters have problems finishing, so this could be a war.

Leland's Prediction: Reis by decision
_____________________________

James Jones vs. Mark Getto

James "Blinky" Jones (4-6) has ran into some tough competition in his career. Imagine your first MMA fight being against Thiago Tavares, and then following it up with Deividas Taurosevicius, another experienced MMA fighter. Nonetheless, "Blinky" has hung in there and managed to score four wins including one against Jay Estrada. Getto (1-3 seems to have huge problems stopping the first round onslaught on his opponents. He seems to be very weak on the ground, and Jones should exploit it quickly.

Leland's Prediction: Jones via submission, Round 1
_____________________________

Rest of the card

The remainder of the undercard is lined with newcomers. Serge Vinagre will take on Brett Linebarger in both of their professional debuts. Charlie Brenneman looks to increase his 4-0 record against relative newcomer Drew Puzon (1-1). Lastly, Matt Makowski (1-0) will take on newcomer Joe Shilling.

Look for some great brawling action in the main card fights. Particularly, Daley and Alvarez should both have some chances to showcase their power against game opponents in Morgan and Ebanez. The rest of the card is fairly lackluster, although ShoXC is called the challenger series because of its aim to be a proving ground for newer fighters. Check out the show on Showtime at 11 PM EST tonight.