Diego Sanchez Rallies late vs Ellenbeger but Falls Short

Posted by Charles McCarthy on Feb 16, 2012 in Editors' Picks, UFC

Nebraska-

UFC on Fuel TV 1 was headlined by what turned out to be the $50,000 bonus winning fight of the night Nebraska native Jake Ellenberger vs Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Diego Sanchez.

The fight was as heated as expected from the fierce staredown to the opening charge across the cage. Half way through a back and forth first round Jake Ellenberger took control after dropping Diego Sanchez and stealing momentum from the former Ultimate Fighter. Ellenberger would go on to control most of the second round with great boxing and takedowns followed by crushing elbows on the ground.

Diego Sanchez sensed in the third round his cardio advantage would take over and he seized the moment. Diego pressed the action and went in for the kill throwing non stop strikes. Ellenberger taking deep breaths fell on the wrong end of a lightning fast grappling transition that saw Diego affix himself to Jake’s back with hooks. Diego relentlessly rained down vicious ground and pound from belly down rear mount and comstantly attacked for chokes for the better part of the round. Ellenberger showing grit of steel escaped the position at the sound of the horn.

The judges unanimously agreed two rounds to one (29-28) that Jake Ellenberger did enough to clutch on to the win.

The scoring of the fight once again brings into question the way MMA fights are scored in the united states. In the now defunct Pride FC organization Diego would have won the fight. They judge the fight as a whole and who came the closest to winning the fight where as the united states uses the boxing 10 point must system where you score 10 points for who you felt won the round and more often than not 9 points for the person who lost the round. Unlike boxing where there is a clear way to score a 10-8 if the fighter is knocked down and goes down a subsequent point each time a fighter is knocked down, MMA rarely ever sees a 10-8 round.

Ellenberger move up the ladder with this win with his eyes firmly set on UFC gold.