There is little chance that the main event on tonight’s UFC card on Fuel loses Fight of the Night to another bout on the card.
It is all because Diego Sanchez is half of the marquee matchup. While Jake Ellenberger is a fun fighter to watch, he hasn’t been involved in the same kind of brawls that seem to checker Sanchez’s career.
If Ellenberger was fighting another welterweight, the spotlight might end up getting stolen by the co-main event which features Stefan Struve and Dave Herman. If nothing else, that fight is intriguing because of Struve’s hot and cold performances in the Octagon.
Sometimes he comes in and raises the bar while at other times he is easily beaten. That uncertainty always makes for entertaining fights.
The only thing that trumps that is the certainty that comes with being an exciting fighter and that is exactly what Sanchez is. The only problem that Sanchez had in his last fight with Martin Kampmann was winning a controversial decision that some fans felt he didn’t deserve.
Sanchez has won Fight of the Night four times in his UFC career and has had plenty more that were exciting even if they didn’t win a bonus.
Sanchez is a decent wrestler, but his striking is impressive and it is his fearlessness to get hit that makes both parts of his game so dangerous. Most fighters move back after taking a certain amount of punishment, but Sanchez just shrugs it off.
And while Ellenberger isn’t as exciting as Sanchez, he is the better wrestler. He has also shown in four of his last five fights that he can either knock his opponent out or beat them into submission. He isn’t a kickboxer by an means, but he is a capable mixed martial artist.
Ellenberger’s only loss in the UFC has been to now-interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit and that was by split decision. While Ellenberger also has a split decision win against Carlos Eduardo Rocha, he has destroyed most of his competition.
This match is a case of two unstoppable forces that love to go on the attack and end up in close affairs with their opponents.
The fight probably won’t go to the ground, mostly because it has two wrestlers who have elected to strike even when they faced formidable strikers. It may not be the smartest game plan, but it makes for a great night of fights.
And tomorrow on Fuel, fans will get to see more of that.
While the card will be fun, the main event will steal the show.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the MMA and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.com that focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
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