The UFC 184 welterweight fight between Jake Ellenberger and Josh Koscheck had the whiff of a fight in which both competitors were looking to save their careers.
Both veterans had lost three in a row. Both had been finished in each of their previous two fights.
But Saturday night at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, Ellenberger looked like a fighter who had rediscovered his groove, while Koscheck looked like he should reconsider whether to continue fighting.
Ellenberger got the best of the action from bell to bell, then finished his opponent with a North-South choke. The time of the stoppage was 4:20 of the second rounf.
Koscheck (17-9), who has been with the UFC sine TUF 1, did his best to control the fight in the clinch along the fence. But Ellenberger, who now trains with the Glendale Fighting Club, completely dominated the striking game.
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After dropping Koscheck to the mat late in the second, he got in position for a perfectly executed choke. Koscheck was foaming at the mouth by the time referee Jarin Valel, who had a brutal night Saturday, reacted to Koscheck’s tap.
‘I couldn’t tell,” Ellenberger (30-9) said about whether Kosheck was finished. “I was expecting him to go out, he’s a super-tough guy.”