It appears that UFC welterweight Jake ‘The Juggernaut’ Ellenberger (25-5) has gotten his wish, he and former No. 1 contender Jake Shields (26-5-1) have agreed to meet in the Octagon this fall, likely on the UFC 138 card in November.
MMAFighting.com announced the bout on Sunday, noting that both fighters have agreed to the match after confirming with a source close to the fight last week. No official announcement concerning the bout has been made by the UFC yet.
UFC 138 is expected to take place on November 19 and represents the first visit by the promotion to the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, the longtime home of their former rival Strikeforce. Another bout in the works for the November date is a heavyweight title match between champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.
Ellenberger had asked to face Shields next last May and will now have to put his money where his mouth is so to speak. ‘The Juggernaut’ has won four straight and is 8-1 in his last nine fights. His last Octagon appearance occurred on the same card as Shields last fight, back in April at UFC 129.
Ellenberger earned a first round knockout win over Canadian Sean Pierson at the Toronto event. The win was his fourth in the UFC, putting together a nice string of wins that include victories over Carlos Rocha, John Howard and Mike Pyle. Ellenberger dropped his UFC debut to Carlos Condit via split decision at UFC Fight Night 19 back in September of 2009.
Shields faced UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at the Toronto event and would go on to lose via unanimous decision to the Canadian title holder. The loss was the first after fifteen straight wins and his first loss in the UFC.
Shields made his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann in October of last year at UFC 121, earning a split decision in a No. 1 contender bout. Previous to that Shields won three straight with Strikeforce, including earning the vacant middleweight title and a successful defense against current light heavyweight champ Dan Henderson in April of 2010.