Wow. Anyone else need a cigarette after that? No one would blame you if you did.
Welterweight action fighters Matt Brown and Jake Ellenberger brought some thunder to Atlanta at UFC 201, with Ellenberger coming out on top in an entertaining affair that crammed about as much pandemonium as you could imagine into 1:46.
The fight was crazy from the first punch, with Ellenberger skittering Brown across the octagon with a right hand. Brown defended from the ground before pushing things back to the feet and beginning to land some shots of his own. Looking loose and confident after weathering the initial storm, Brown pressed forward until Ellenberger fired a vicious kick to the body that stopped the Ohio native in his tracks.
From there, Ellenberger followed up with shots on the ground until the ref pulled him off, making the biggest win of his UFC run official. He’d lost five of six coming in and hadn’t won since February 2015, and there was talk on the broadcast of this being his last shot at sticking in the promotion.
It’s a massive result for The Juggernaut, who has been treading water at 170 for some time now with more wins than losses in one of the true shark tank divisions the UFC has on offer. Few people would challenge the contention that Ellenberger is one of the more talented fighters at the weight, however, bouncing around to different training camps and drawing some tough matchups had hampered his progress as of late.
With that in mind, he remains a formidable foe for anyone given his wrestling chops, elite punching power and athleticism. He showed a ferocity against Brown that had been lacking in recent bouts, and he showed it against one of the purest tough guys fighting in the UFC today. To score a vicious knockdown on the first punch of the night, shell up when Brown was coming on in response, then stop him with a perfectly timed, expertly placed liver kick is indicative of a return to the right track buoyed by sharpening the skills he’s always had and evolving new ones as well.
For Brown, it’s a devastating loss that sends him back to the drawing board. He’s 35 years old and has a lifetime of wars both in and out of the cage behind him. He sits near the back of the welterweight top-10 with little evidence supporting the notion that he might climb the mountain once again. Ellenberger might have helped catapult Brown back up the ranks had he won, but the loss almost surely relegates him to fun fights and wild brawls for the rest of his time in the UFC.
Ellenberger will need an equally stout test next time out. The winner of Neil Magny-Lorenz Larkin at UFC 202 might work on that front. Brown could stand to provide some entertainment against Dong Hyun Kim when he returns from injury and should be booked as such.
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