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Elite XC-Uprising is the next big MMA event on the schedule. It will air LIVE on Showtime this Saturday, September 15th at 10 PM Eastern.

The Elite XC show will be headlined by an Elite XC middleweight title bout. Murilo "Ninja" Rua will defend the championship against Robbie Lawler.

The full card according to MMAWeekly.com:

Main Card Bouts:
-Robbie Lawler (#7 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Murilo "Ninja" Rua
-Jake Shields (#8 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Renato "Charuto" Verissimo
-Nick Diaz vs. Mike Aina
-Joey Villasenor vs. Riki Fukuda
-Gina Carano vs. Tonya Evinger

Preliminary Bouts:
-Chad Klingensmith vs. Brandon Wolff
-Kala Kohole Hose vs. Jeff Fox
-Mark Oshiro vs. Nui Wheeler
-Mark Kurano vs. Jose Diaz
-Justin Bucholz vs. Kolo Koka
-Tyson Nam vs. Albert Manners

Nick Diaz will make his return to the octagon on this show. He last fought for PRIDE last February when he defeated famed Japanese fighter Takanori Gomi via submission. However, a failed drug test (marijuana) caused the Nevada State Athletic Commission to overturn the result of the fight to a no contest result.

Also on the card is probably the most famous female MMA fighter, Gina Carano. If you have never seen her fight, I'd go out of my way to check her out ( ).

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Here's a short preview of the main fights from MMABlog:

Nick Diaz returns to the fight game for the first time after a controversial decision by the NSAC to overturn Diaz's February triumph over PRIDE stalwart Takanori Gomi. Diaz tested positive not for steroids or a performance enhancing supplement, but for Marijuana. The victory was turned into a No Decision & Diaz has received support from most of the MMA community ever since. Sometimes when fighters are overturned by commissions, people act as if the fight never happened. This is not so with the Diaz & Gomi fight. People will always remember the fight, & anyone who has common sense will see it nothing less than an impressive victory by Nick Diaz.

Diaz makes his EliteXC debut against BJ Penn product Mike Aina on the under card of the Honolulu event. Like most of the other fights on the card, it is being billed as Gracie vs Penn, as Diaz is a Cesar Gracie student. Aina has been in there with some above average competition in UFC golden boy Roger Huerta, & IFL fighter Ryan "The Lion" Schultz, losing to both by decision. I've yet to see Aina fight, but based on a recent highlight published on YouTube, the guy has some heavy hands, & looks very aggressive. I mean, the guy trains with BJ Penn, so I'd expect nothing less. He seems to have all of the tools to bring out the best in Nick Diaz, & I anticipate some serious fireworks.

The Main Event at Uprising features MMAWeekly.com's #7 ranked Middleweight "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler challenging EliteXC's Middleweight Champion, Murilo "Ninja" Rua. This is EliteXC & Rua's first title defense, and I can tell you now, knees & fists will be in abundance. Both fighters love to strike, & both love to throw some unconventional knees.

"Ruthless" Robbie Lawler is often referred to as the "best physical specimen he's ever trained" by Pat Miletich. Lawler, who recently made a move to train with Matt Hughes at the newly formed Team Hughes, looks to build off the momentum he has achieved from his recent destruction of Frank Trigg. The former UFC & PRIDE veteran has disposed of the likes of Aaron Riley, Chris "Lights Out" Lytle, Falaniko Vitale(twice), and more recently, "Smokin" Joey Villasenor.

Murilo "Ninja" Rua has often been compared to the likes of Kevin Randleman, as a guy with endless talent, but one who has always underachieved. When the Chute Box fighter first burst on the scene at PRIDE, everyone thought he was the future of the sport. He got an impressive win over Daijiro Matsui, & lost an incredibly close decision to "Hollywood" Dan Henderson. He went on to beat Alex Andrade by decision in what I often refer to as one of the worst dominations in MMA history. He also was able to beat the legendary Mario Sperry in impressive fashion. Then something happened to Rua, he started to lose fights against the top competition, & began to attempt to fluctuate between different weights. He dropped losses to Randleman, Ricardo Arona, Sergei Kharitonov, Quinton Jackson, Paulo Filho, & Dennis Kang. But finally, out of the shadow of his younger brother & Wanderlei Silva, it seems "Ninja" has finally found his place in MMA. He's recently had an impressive victory over Mark Weir, defeated Alex Reid because of a well defended low kick, & won the EliteXC Middleweight Championship against Joey Villasenor.

Both "Ninja" & Lawler have something to prove on Saturday, & I look for it to be one hell of a stand up war. I'm not sure who I'd put my money on, but if I had to guess I'd go with Murilo "Ninja" Rua successfully defending his title. Rua has been in there with the best fighters in the world, & he's finally got his hands around a major title, I don't see him letting go very easily.

Also on the under card is the highly anticipated showdown between BJ Penn trained former UFC veteran Renato "Charuto" Verissimo & MMAWeekly.com's #8 ranked Welterweight, Cesar Gracie product, Jake Shields. This could be a contender for fight of the night, as Jake Shields attempts to move up the Welterweight ladder, & "Charuto" continues his comeback. "Charuto", is Penn's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor, so you obviously have to respect his ground game. "Charuto" is often remembered for his controversial decision loss to Matt Hughes at UFC 48. Jake Shields is coming off a plethora of wins over top competition including former UFC Middleweight Champion, Dave Menne, top Middleweight & UFC contender, Yushin Okami, & WEC Welterweight Champion, Carlos Condit.

The card also includes the current Women's MMA poster girl, Gina Carano in action. The ever popular Carano will test her incredible striking skills against the very tough Tonya Evinger. If you've never seen Gina Carano in action, this fight on Saturday is an absolute must see. The first time I saw Carano fight, I was absolutely amazed.

Greg Jackson product, "Smokin" Joe Villasenor will also be doing battle with Killer Bee sensation, Riki Fukuda. Fists will fly in this fight, & both guys are looking for a win to move up and possibly challenge for the Middleweight Championship.

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I don't know why, but I'm going with the upset in the main event and picking Ninja Rua.

I also have Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, Joey Villasenor and Gina Carano as winners in their respective fights.

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Here are some more, in-depth previews from MMA-Analyst...

Main event, Rua vs. Lawler:

Robbie is currently 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. Lawler's main strength is his standup fighting. Ten of his 14 wins have ended via knockout or technical knockout. 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. 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.

Murilo "Ninja" Rua 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 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.

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.

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'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. 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.

Prediction on the Shields/Charuto fight

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.

Prediction for the Diaz/Aina fight

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.

Prediction for the Carano/Evinger fight

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.

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Well, I predicted right all fights except the main event. Here are the full results for Saturday night's Elite Xtreme Combat's Uprising show.


-Jake Shields def. Renato Verissimo in 1st round by TKO ref stoppage from strikes
-Joey Villasenor def. Riki Fukuda via split decision
-Gina Carano def. Tonya Evinger in 1st round by submission (rear naked choke)
-Nick Diaz def. Mike Aina via split decision
-Robbie Lawler def Murilo Rua by TKO (Strikes) in round 3

Lawler is the new EXC Middleweight Champion.


The Carano fight was interesting. Evinger looked like she had a guillotine choke on but lost it. Carano fought back and got Evinger's back and locked on a rear naked choke at the end of the first round. In fact, I think Evinger tapped out with about 2-3 seconds before the end of the round.

The main event ended in spectacular fashion. Lawler's power was evident with Rua being knocked to the ground. Lawler pounced on him until the ref stopped the fight.

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A look at Robbie Lawler and his championship victory last weekend from Yahoo! Sports.

"Ruthless" Robbie Lawler reminded a national audience on Saturday just how he got his nickname.

Sensing his opponent, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, was fading, Lawler played the predator to Rua's prey in round 3 of his Elite XC title fight at the Blaisdell Center. Lawler exploded to victory, unleashing an onslaught of strikes to overwhelm Rua and take his title via TKO.

"After the second round, my corner told me that I needed to go out there and win a couple rounds," said Lawler. "I turned around and I said 'He isn't getting out of this round, I'm going to knock him out.'"

Lawler and Rua respected one another's games in the opening round. Lawler scored a quick takedown, but quickly scooted back to his feet in order to stay away from Rua's black-belt level jiu-jitsu. Rua wasn't afraid to stand with Lawler, but also looked to react more than engage.

Rua pushed the pace in round 2, initiating the bulk of the offense. Lawler spent much of the round in a defensive mode, countering Rua's punches and low kicks, and masterfully sprawling to avoid Rua's takedown attempts.

Though Rua appeared to win the round, he also appeared spent afterwards. Lawler had a look of extra intensity in his eyes as he exploded out of the blocks in round three with a big combo. Rua managed to escape the initial onslaught, but was visibly fading.

"You could see he was wearing out," said Lawler. "He fought a good second round, but I knew I was going to be able to come out and finish him."

Rua sparked his own downfall by hitting Lawler with a knee to the midsection. Lawler responded immediately with a furious right hand and chased after the rocked Rua. Lawler unleashed a flurry, with the most damaging blow being a hellacious right uppercut that knocked Rua (14-8-1) to the mat. Lawler pounced and hit seven uncontested right hammer fists, two lefts, and a left elbow before referee Mario Yamasaki called a stop to the match at 2:04 of the round.

Asked if he knew he had the fight won when he connected on the right uppercut, Lawler said, "I knew I had him when I stepped in the cage. I only know one way to fight and that's all out. I can't say I even think about one particular punch, I just know that I had my opening and I got the job done."

With the win, Lawler (15-4) added to a collection of gold that already included the ICON Sport middleweight crown. He has won seven of eight fights since he left the UFC in 2004, and scored the 12th KO/TKO win of his career.

Lawler said he didn't do much wrestling training leading up to the fight, a surprise given the fluidity of his takedown defense.

"He worked hardcore on his conditioning," said Matt Hughes, who cornered Lawler for the fight. "I had him out on my farm dragging tractor tires up hills. Then we'd get to the top of the hill and I'd have him hit the tire with a sledgehammer over and over. What you saw out there was an athlete who put in his hard work, and that showed by the time the third round rolled around."

The title victory came in the first major show for the H.I.T. Squad, the new gym outside St. Louis run by Hughes and Lawler. Lawler, however, made it a point to thank his and Hughes' original trainer, former UFC champ Pat Miletich.

"I want to think Pat Miletich for everything he's done for me," said Lawler. "I am where I am in this sport because of the guidance he gave me and I wouldn't be here without him."

Lawler did say, though, that he would give Hughes a razzing for getting the gold first. "I'm going to let him know I have a belt and he doesn't," said a laughing Lawler. "Now he's got to bring home the gold on Dec. 29 (when Hughes challenges Matt Serra for the UFC welterweight title.)."

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For anyone interested in checking out this show, but don't have Showtime, here's your chance.

This Saturday at 2 PM eastern & pacific, Showtime is airing the EliteXC Uprising show. This weekend, Showtime is offering a free preview for basic cable subscribers.

The show featured a main event of Ninja Rua vs. Robbie Lawler.