Jake Ellenberger walked out of the Octagon Friday night with an uneventful unanimous decision win over Jay Hieron. The win avenged a loss he had to Hieron six years ago, which must feel great for the Nebraska native.
So the question is, what’s next for Jake Ellenberger?
Ellenberger was considered one of the top contenders going into his last fight with Martin Kampmann. He was defeated by the durable Dane and had to go back to the drawing board.
In Hieron, he defeated a teammate of Kampmann, which may not ease the pain of the Kampmann loss, but may give him some reassurance.
Ellenberger is still a top guy at 170 pounds.
One loss doesn’t immediately take you out of the mix, nor does a boring win.
Beating Hieron was a big deal. He is a very scrappy veteran that is completely underrated. He is a guy that arguably beat Ben Askren during his time in Bellator.
A lot of welterweights are currently tied up at the moment. A guy like Josh Koscheck definitely presents an interesting matchup as both guys are great wrestlers with powerful hands.
If that is not a fight people want to see, a fight with Nick Diaz when he returns would be awesome. Both men are good strikers with different types of ground games.
Diaz is a jiu-jitsu guy with amazing submissions. Ellenberger is a power wrestler with powerful ground and pound.
Diaz is a volume boxer and Ellenberger is a power boxer. That is an interesting pairing right there as well.
That would be the best option in my opinion. That is, if Diaz comes out of his “retirement.”
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