EliteXC will hold their first co-promotion event with newly acquired ICON Sport this Saturday night in Honolulu, Hawaii. The main event features another one of these “unification” bouts between ICON middleweight champion Robbie Lawler and EliteXC middleweight champion Murilo Rua.

This card also features the return of Nick Diaz after a six-month suspension due to a failed drug test in California. Top ten welterweight Jake Shields will fight UFC veteran “Charuto” Verissimo in what could prove to be a fairly exciting matchup. While this card doesn’t have quite the attraction that the prior EliteXC-Showtime card featuring Baroni vs. Shamrock did, it still is a fight card worth checking out. EliteXC is looking to be a contender in the MMA scene having recently purchased King of the Cage and Cage Rage and partnerships with K-1, Strikeforce and ICON; if anyone is truly going to challenge the UFC’s supremecy (which I don’t think they will), EliteXC looks to be that challenger.

Murilo Rua vs. Robbie Lawler - Murilo “Ninja” Rua, a Chute Boxe member, won the EliteXC middleweight title this past June when he defeated Joey Villasenor in the second round on the Strikeforce-EliteXC: Shamrock vs Baroni card. Rua has had a somewhat up-and-down career spent mostly in PrideFC. Rua was just good enough to stay afloat in the division but was never able to “clear the hurdle” and defeat any top level fighters as he has losses to Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, Kevin Randleman, Quinton Jackson, Paulo Filho and Dennis Kang.

Robbie Lawler is the reigning ICON Sport Middleweight champion and has had somewhat of a resurgance in his career since leaving the UFC in 2004. Lawler was a rising star in the UFC known for his brutal KO power. However, Lawler met his match when he was defeated at his own game by Nick Diaz at UFC 47 and then lost to Evan Tanner at UFC 50. Lawler then left the UFC and moved up to middleweight and looks much more comfortable gaining victories over Falaniko Vitale, Joey Villasenor and Frank Trigg in ICON Sport.

This fight should be exciting and fast paced. Look for Rua to try and take the fight to the ground early and often to try and stay away from Lawler’s power. I think Lawler will be able to stuff Rua’s takedown attempts and work his much improved standup game early on. If Lawler is in good shape and doesn’t gas out, I think this is Robbie’s fight to lose. Winner: Robbie Lawler

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Tags: EliteXC, MMA, ICON, Robbie Lawler, Maurilo Rua