Fight Night 25 Recap: Jake Ellenberger climbs the Welterweight Rankings
Posted on September 18, 2011, 04:46 AM by Trent Reinsmith
Prior to the main event of Fight Night 25 Jake Ellenberger said that he did not think that Jake Shields was a big step up in competition for him. In fact, Ellenberger said that he felt that his recent opponent Carlos Rocha was more dangerous than Shields.
Ellenberger backed that talk up on Saturday, doing something that Dan Henderson and Georges St-Pierre were unable to do, stop Jake Shields. Ellenberger dropped Shields with a big knee and then followed him to the ground, finishing him with strikes, just 53 seconds into the opening stanza.
After the fight Shields expressed disappointment, saying he thought he could have continued, but the replay showed the stoppage to be justified.
This was easily the biggest win of Ellenberger’s career, one that should get his name mentioned as one of the top fighters in the Welterweight division.
Questions after seeing Shields vs. Ellenberger:
-What’s next for Jake Ellenberger, does he get the winner of BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz or is he next in line for a Welterweight title shot?
-What’s next for Jake Shields? Shields has lost two in a row for the first time in his career, add to that his somewhat controversial win over Martin Kampmann and that leads us to the next question.
-What do the Welterweight Division rankings look like after this fight?
-Should GSP (if he defeats Carlos Condit) be worried about Jake Ellenberger?
Notes and more questions following Fight Night 25:
-It wasn’t too long ago that Evan Dunham was considered an up and coming prospect in UFC’s Lightweight division, but after losses to Sean Sherk and Melvin Guillard that talk quieted down, did his win over Shamar Bailey renew the talk of him being a contender?
-Donny Walker refused to tap to the rear naked choke of Ken Stone eventually falling unconscious before the referee called the fight. Just throwing this one out there, but does refusing to tap really prove anything?
-Despite what the crowd thought, almost every member of the press seemed to have scored the Lance Benoist vs. Matt Riddle fight the same as the judges, 29-28 for Benoist. Sure, Riddle did deliver a nice knee that left Benoist bloody, but it was not enough to win the fight, despite what the vocal crowd would want you to believe.
-Before this fight Cody McKenzie told MMAJunkie, “Like I said, if I lose two in a row, I don't deserve to be at the high level. I should go back to the smaller shows and work my way back up and get some wins if I lose.” Will Dana White take him up on that, since he has lost two in a row?
-Before the detached retina sidelined him, Alan Belcher was climbing the ranks of the Middleweight division, it will be interesting to see where he lands in the rankings after his win over Jason MacDonald.
-What’s next for Erik Koch? Who will the UFC match him up with next? Same with Jonathan Brookins, where does the former “TUF” winner go from here?
Lowkick.com Fight Night 25 main card awards:
Fight of the night: I have to go with Belcher vs. MacDonald. Belcher put another nail in the coffin of “cage rust” as a legitimate reason for looking bad in a fight when he took out MacDonald.
Performance of the night: Jake Shields. Shields’ father passed away just a few weeks ago, the fact that Shields did not drop out of this fight when no one would have blamed him if he had, says a great deal about the character of Shields. Sure, he lost, and in devastating fashion, but he fought and that earns him the performance of the night.
Finish of the night: Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger went into his bout with Jake Shields as the underdog and just dominated the short fight. He showed strong finishing skills in earning the TKO. Let’s not forget that Shields hadn’t been stopped since March 2000.
Further Reading: Fight Night 25 Wrap-Up: Ellenberger, Benoist, Riddle, Waldburger take home $55k
Photo: UFC fighter Jake Ellenberger celebrates his victory over John Howard at UFC-Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko at the San Diego Sports Arena on August 1, 2010, in San Diego, California. Francis Specker
Comments
So aldo should be considered p4p before gsp, cause he finished mike brown and menvel right.
what about jon jones. I mean he should be before gsp, cause he defended his 205 title so many times.(sarcasm)
aside of anderson silva, name 1 fighter who should be above gsp, finishes or not. Hardy was not a contender and shields got caught, I don't see the problem. the haters always gonna find a reason to hate
You are absolutely correct GSP fights not to lose and that is why he is still the champion. Personally I would rather stay a boring champion than a spectacular ex-champion.
different fighters different fights A. silva ran from maia fo 5 rounds nate droppeed him in 30seconds. silva was getting mauled by sonnen for 4 rounds but mai finished him in the firets 2 minutes. cain valezques struggeld against kongo but mir finished hi in under a minute does that make silva and cain lesser fighters i dont think so nor does this reflect poorly on gsp
Aldo did not finish Hominick, nor did he finish Faber--does that mean Aldo is slipping and not as good a fighter as he once was? Rashad beat Rampage who beat Machida who beat Rashad? MMA math is not infallible.
Cain and Jones are sitll too new with no title defenses. Dominick Cruz hasn't finished many recently. Neither has Frankie Edgar.
Anderson has even had 7 decisions in his career--and he has the most exceptional record of all.
My guess is that 5 round title fights are a different animal from contender fights and usually mean you are fighting the best of the best who are typically hard to finish. Also, I would argue GSP's opponents have been ultra-conservative when they finally got their golden opportunity--and they did not bring the fight to GSP, the champion.
Jake Shields did not fight Ellenberger the way that he fought GSP. He did not try to shoot in on him. Shields underestimated Ellenberger and got caught.
Good card with a few boring fights
AT the end of the day, gsp is winning, haters, he's not decapitating his opponents anymore,but he's winning. if winning isn't enough to put gsp as a top 2 p4p. U gotta get that hate out of ur ass, lol
hes winning, but hes making all these guys look way better than they are... i think thats a fair critisism considering hes supposed to be the second best fighter in the world. besides none of this matters cuz i gaurantee gsp wont be champ for too much longer. and btw this fight went bassically how i thought it would
One of the main things to come out Shields loss is the gulf in class between the ufc and strikeforce. I know Shields was middleweight in Strikeforce but considering he came to the ufc after dominating in Strikeforce, he is now 1-2 in the ufc with a lackluster showing against Kampmann. To me, just shows the overall depth and ability differences between the organisations if Shields isnt even a top 5 ufc welterweight.
After seeing Shields TKO'd by a mid-level WW, and remembering the controversial and close Kampmann decision--I wonder how Nick Diaz will do in the WW division.
I enjoyed the fights, for the most part--and I was glad to see Belcher back in form. Ellenberger deserves his new place in the WW rankings--he has fought hard to earn it. If all Brookins has is a ground game--without takedown ability--his days are numbered.
Evan Dunham looked great and Cody MacKenzie looked bad. Court McKee looked solid, if boring--he still takes too much damage.
I am not sure why Jake Shields earned the title "Performance of the Night" for reasons other than fighting. His actual performance was a pretty resounding FAIL.