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Giving the fans something a little different to think about, the UFC presents a mid-week fight night in UFC on Fuel: Ellenberger vs. Sanchez (Thursday, One HD 12-3pm AEDT).
The timing of this event couldn’t be better for the two headlining welterweight fighters, with the division currently unsettled they have the chance to be in the mix for top contender of the interim title. Of course this is dependent on the schedule of the injured champion Georges St. Pierre (22-2).
For Jake Ellenberger (26-5), the path to this moment hasn’t been easy. Constantly considered as the underdog, he debuted in 2009 against the interim champ Carlos Condit, eventually losing the fight in a split decision.
Since then Ellenberger has gone onto win all 5 of his UFC fights, four of which have been won via TKO or KO, the last fight against ex-Strikeforce champion Jake Shields ended with a knee KO at 0:53 of round 1 in September 2011 and earned Knockout of the night honours.
Ellenberger’s competitor, Diego “The Dream” Sanchez (23-4) has become a familiar name within the UFC since his appearance on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, beating Kenny Florian (14-6) in the finale to win the show at middleweight.
Following this win, Sanchez returned to his natural welterweight size and has clocked up over 15 UFC fights (11-4) in less than 7 years with the UFC.
This fight will really be a test for both fighters, equally proficient in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, wrestling and in the stand up and should be the front-runner for fight of the night.
While Sanchez has been looking less like his old nickname “The Nightmare”, lately fighting out to decision wins; it is this fight with Ellenberger and his fighting style that should inspire Sanchez to his return to his best.
This however, should really be Ellenberger’s fight and should be able to get this win and go on to fight within the top of the division.
As the co-main event, and another potential for fight of the night, is a heavyweight bout against not-so heavy fighters Stefan Struve (21-5) and Dave Herman (21-2).
Herman, whose strengths lie in wrestling and boxing, is coming into this fight with only one UFC fight under his belt, a win against Golden Glory fighter John-Olav Einemo (6-3) by TKO at 3:19 of round at UFC 131 in June 2011, which also won fight of the night. On the smaller promotional circuit, he has proven to be a force to be reckoned with as 13 of the wins are via TKO or KO.
For the 2.11m “Skyscraper” Stefan Struve, this fight against Herman is just a means to progressing up the ranks of heavyweight contention.
With nine fights in the UFC (6-3), Struve has had the experience of fighting some of the biggest names in the division, with wins against Pat Barry (7-4) and Christian Morecraft (7-3), and losses against Roy Nelson (16-7) and current champion Junior Dos Santos (14-1).
While coming from a kickboxing background, Struve’s height (and length) has proved to be a benefit, especially in executing triangle chokes, with some of his earlier fights finishing with a win via this exact submission.
Overall this fight is an interesting match-up considering both fighters being used to winning their bouts with finishes in the KO or TKO territory as well as both being proven to take hard hits.
Based on the style of both fighters, the fight could go to the judges, similar to Struve’s back and forth fight with Paul Buentello (29-14) at UFC 107. This one is tough to call, however Struve’s experience should be more of an advantage, and he should be able to get the win.
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