EliteXC's 'Uprising' Preview and Predictions

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Reminder to the staff, time is running out and Euan is the only brave one thus far.

Welcome to my predictions for EXC ‘Uprising’ which will air on Saturday 09/15 on Showtime. I’ll have live coverage of the Showtime portion, but the Proelite.com portion and I may not yet be on speaking terms.

Anyway, lets break it down and the 1979 United States quarter is back for another humbling. The quarter I’m using is 2 years older than me, which is kind of creepy.

Bantamweight Bout: Albert Manners Vs. Tyson Nam
Manners’ nickname is “Always Bad” because I guess his Manners were always bad as a child. If this is true, I’m going to pick him to win because to a man with bad manners breaking the rules is no big deal. So Manners will win by kicking Nam in the testicular fortitude.
Winner: Albert Manners
Coin Picks: Tyson Nam

Welterweight Bout: Brandon Wolff Vs. Chad Klingensmith
I’ve got no idea but it takes a big man to admit when he’s got no idea. Chad has a very long last name. It is the type of name that might prevent me from picking him due to not wishing to type it more than once. But Mark Danger always says I’m hardcore so…
Winner: Chad Klingensmith
Coin Picks: Brandon Wolff

Bantamweight Bout: Mark Oshiro Vs. Nui Wheeler
Sure, Wheeler is making his MMA debut but that’s not altogether a bad spot. As crazy as it seems, people do actually win their debut fights. In fact, I lean toward picking a guy in his debut because it isn’t like his opponent has a lot of tape to study. I’m not leaning that way in this one so watch Wheeler own Oshiro.
Winner: Mark Oshiro
Coin Picks: Nui Wheeler

Middleweight Bout: Mark Kurano Vs. Jose “bomber” Diaz
Kurano is making his MMA debut. He and Gina are probably related even though they don’t even spell their last name close to one another, but who are we to consider minor details such as that when writing one of these columns?
If Jose Diaz is anything like Nick Diaz, he’d better hope not everyone on the card is drug tested. I’m going with Kurano because hell Diaz only has 1 fight whereas in the above match Oshiro has 9. Yes, I freely admit to having 0 clue on any of the dark fights and no, I don’t have the good sense to just not make a pick.
Winner: Mark Kurano
Coin Picks: Jose Diaz

Middleweight Bout: Jeff Cox Vs. Kala Kolohe Hose
This fight allows me to practice 2 of my scientific prediction principles that have been proven to work a percentage of the time. The first is when in doubt go with the man who’s name is cooler. The second is to pick against the guy with the bad nickname. Fortunately in this fight, I can do both because Kala Kolohe Hose is a cool name and “Pee Wee” is kind of lame.
Winner: Kala Kolohe Hose
Coin Picks: Kala Kolohe Hose

Women’s Bout: Gina Carano Vs. Tonya Evinger
Now we’re in the fights I know something about. Evinger at the press conference for this fight on Thursday said she’d be glad to make out with Gina or knock her out which ever Gina wants. I personally don’t think that Carano should get a vote and it should be my choice. However, we’re getting off the point here and not talking about the actual fight and you should know by now I am against that practice in my fight predictions column. So anyway, the fight.
Evinger is a wrestler by skill and Carano is a Mui-tai fighter and a pretty good striker. I wasn’t really all that impressed with Carano’s ground game against Julie Kedzie and so if Evinger can get her there we could have trouble, and by we I of course mean Gina. I’ve seen nothing to suggest that Evinger can compete on the feet but when it comes to striking it only takes one good one. I’m going to take Carano but Evinger winning wouldn’t surprise me in a single way.
Winner: Gina Carano
Coin Picks: Tonya Evinger

Welterweight Bout: Jake Shields Vs. Renato Verissimo
In this fight you’ve got a couple of guys who both like to keep things on the ground. Usually that’s where fights like this end up with one looking to prove he’s the more dominant fighter on that level but sometimes it takes awhile because they want to see if they can expose a striking weakness in the other.
I think highly of Shields and believe he’s the best Welterweight not in the UFC or the WEC. EliteXC is hoping Shields’ next fight is for a Welterweight Championship.
Verissimo isn’t someone to be looked past however. He trains with BJ Penn and has some experience in some of the bigger promotions including an appearance at UFC 48. A knock on Shields is that he’s had trouble finishing fights and while he’s beaten some big names he’s not finished any of them. I believe that there’s a first time for everything and Shields has something to prove.
Winner: Jake Shields
Coin Picks: Jake Shields

Middleweight Bout: Riki Fukuda Vs. Joe Villasenor
I first saw Riki Fukuda at the first EXC show in February and he was impressive even if his opponent left a lot to be desired. However, the issue isn’t Fukuda it is Joe Villasenor. I picked him over Robbie Lawler at Pride 32 and he was flattened. I picked him to lose to David Loiseau at the first EXC show and he was victorious. I picked him to defeat Ninja Rua for the EXC Middleweight title in June and he lost. Since I’ve been making MMA Predictions, I’m 0-3 with this guy and I don’t have that bad of a record with anyone else, though I’m 0-2 in Randy Couture fights.
Villasenor looked good in the first round of the Rua fight on his feet but it fell apart in the second. I must admit though to being gunshy about picking this fight. Even though we’ve got a horrible record together I do enjoy watching Villasenor fight. I guess since I like the guy the easiest way to ensure a victory is to pick Fukuda and so that’s what I’m going to do.
Winner: Riki Fukuda
Coin Picks: Joe Villasenor

Welterweight Bout: Mike Aina Vs. Nick Diaz
These 2 are both going to want to keep the fight standing. Diaz is making his return to MMA after serving a suspension for observing 420 near and possibly during his fight with Takanori Gomi at Pride 33 in February. Diaz won the Gomi fight but his Rob Van Dam impersonation turned it to a no contest. Aina does a lot of his fighting in Hawaii and seriously, it is Hawaii so who could blame him?
I’m not really a Diaz fan though he impressed me with his initial victory over Gomi who was/is/will be? The Pride Lightweight Champion. He doesn’t have powerful shots but he does hit a lot of them. I think the number of his strikes more than anything else will be Aina’s undoing.
Winner: Nick Diaz
Coin Picks: Mike Aina

Middleweight Championship Bout: Robbie Lawler Vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua
I said in the Showtime Media Predictions Poll I participated in that this was going to be a close fight. I still believe that to be the case. Lawler is the Icon Sport middleweight champ after taking the belt from Frank Trigg while Rua is coming off his victory over Joe Villasenor in June.
I predicted Rua by third round submission and I stand by it. I believe that he’s way better on the ground than Lawler is and I believe that the striking may go to Lawler but it is closer than people think. They’ll engage on the feet but if Rua senses trouble he’ll look to take him to the ground and that’s where his advantage will be more clear. I made my prediction of a third round submission over a week ago and have had plenty of time to change my mind. I’ve done nothing but become more certain of a Rua victory.
Winner: Murilo “Ninja” Rua
Coin Picks: Robbie Lawler

If you wish to see the rest of the staff’s predictions and those of their coins you can do so by: Clicking here and remember I’ll have live coverage starting at 10:00 PM ET 9:00 PM CT.


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