· “UFC On Fuel: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger” Results
The near capacity crowd at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska nearly blew the roof off the building when UFC Welterweight, and Omaha native, Jake Ellenberger walked to the cage last night for his main event showdown with former Ultimate Fighter 1 winner, and perennial UFC contender, Diego Sanchez. The two welterweight headliners for the UFC debut on Fuel TV wasted little time getting to work. After an intense stare down they opted to skip the feeling out process and get the show under way. Ellenberger started things off with a left and right hook combination, Sanchez fired back with to show the crowd favorite that it wasn't going to be that easy. Midway through the round Ellenberger stunned Diego with a left hand and dropped to the canvas with a right hand follow-up. The crowd roared, sensing the highlight finish was coming, but Diego bounced right back up. Ellenberger tagged Diego again right before the end of the round. More of the same in the second round. Diego tried to mix things up with some spinning kicks, but he was having trouble finding a home for anything. Towards the end of the round Ellenberger landed a takedown and unloaded some hard, sharp elbows in Diego's guard to cap off the round.
Ellenberger's pace slowed in the third round, and Diego, knowing he needed a stoppage to win, came out throwing with bad intentions. Ellenberger secured a takedown near the cage, but Diego escaped and took Nebraskan's back and unloaded punches looking for the finish. Ellenberger defended well, and picked to Diego's ankle while escaping out the back door to get back to his feet. He finished the round with a wild flurry which prompted roaring applause from the crowd as the horn sounded the conclusion of the fight. All three judges scored the fight 29-28 for Ellenberger.
In the match up prior to the main event Stefan Struve overcame a slow start to put away Dave Herman in the second round with a TKO stoppage. Herman controlled the action in the first as he backed Struve against the cage with punches and kicks. The 6'11 Struve was not using his reach advantage and looked unsure of how to attack Herman who was standing in front of him the whole time. In the second round Struve started to loosen up and find his rhythm. Halfway through the round Struve found Herman's chin with a right uppercut. Herman dropped to the canvas and Struve jumped right into mount and starting unloading punches as Herman covered up. Referee Josh Rosenthal let enough unanswered blows go by before stopping the fight at the 3:52 mark of round two. Herman protested the stoppage as a emerged with a swollen left eye.
In one of the more surprising fights of the night, Aaron "A-Train" Simpson opted to box and clinch with Ronny Markes instead of use his wrestling. He landed a hard uppercut that dropped Markes in the first round, but allowed Markes to stand back up once he realized the finish wasn't there. Markes used right hands, leg kicks, and clinch work to outscore Simpson the majority of the fight after being rocked by the uppercut. The judges awarded Markes the split decision victory (29-28 Markes, 29-28 Simpson, 29-28 Simpson).
Stipe Miocic and T.J. Dillashaw didn't make the mistake Simpson would eventually make. They fought to their strengths from the opening bell. Miocic made quick work of Phil DeFries; hurting the Brit with a right hand, then following him across the cage and to the ground as he pounded away to earn the stoppage. Miocic improved to 8-0 with the victory. Dillashaw didn't earn the stoppage, but he did come out on the winning end of the most lopsided bout of the evening; earning scores of 30-25 (twice) and 30-26 with dominant wrestling and grappling. Dillashaw spent the majority of the fight in mount, unloading ground and pound, and going for rear-naked chokes. Credit Watson for surviving to the final bell, but Dillashaw impressed the pro-wrestling crowd with his dominance and control on the ground.
Ivan Menvijar and John Albert submitted their 2012 entry for "Round Of The Year" in their bout. The action didn't take long to go into it's back and forth nature. Ivan tripped Albert down against the cage, Albert immediately established a high guard as he looked for the submission. He caught Ivan's left arm in an omaplata, but Ivan eventually pulled it free and unloaded punches and hammer fists. The fight got back to the feet where Albert hurt Ivan with a headkick and followed it up with a relentless attack of punches and knees - one of which occurred with Ivan clearly on the ground. The referee only warned Albert as the two moved along the cage. Albert went for a standing guillotine. Ivan pulled his head free as the two fell to the canvas, Ivan advanced position and Albert rolled to his stomach. From there Ivan softened him up with punches, flattened him out and secured the rear-naked choke. Albert was forced to tap at 3:45 of the first round awarding Ivan Menvijar the victory in a very exciting, back-and-forth bout.
Ultimate Fighter Season 12 Winner Jonathan Brookins got back into the win column with a first round knockout of Vagner Rocha. Brookins, who was looking to rebound from a decision loss to Erik Koch at UFC Fight Night 25 in September, got dominant position as he stuffed a takedown attempt from Rocha. There he landed several right hands to the defenseless Rocha, eventually putting Vagner's lights out to earn the knockout victory at 1:32 of the first round.
Justin Salas earned the unanimous decision victory in his UFC debut over fellow newcomer, Anton Kuivanen. The fight was even on the feet with each fighter having their moments. Anton landed some hard, crushing body kicks, but Justin's wrestling proved to be the deciding factor as he used to control Anton, land ground and pound. He won almost every round on the judges' scorecards.
Tim Means backed up his weigh-in trash talk with a dominant victory over Bernardo Malgalhaes. The two fighters started slowly, but after a failed takedown attempt by Bernardo followed by a hard knee and a left hand from Means the fight was all downhill from there for Bernardo. Means battered his fellow UFC rookie for three rounds, even taunting him in the second stanza as Bernardo went into to survival mode from the middle of the first round on. Means improved to 17-3-1 with a 30-27, 30-26, 30-26 unanimous decision victory.
Full Results:
Jake Ellenberger def. Diego Sanchez via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Stefan Struve def. Dave Herman via 2nd Round TKO (3:52)
Ronny Markes def. Aaron Simpson via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Stipe Miocic def. Philip De Fries via 1st Round TKO (:43)
T.J. Dillashaw def. Walel Watson via Unanimous Decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-26)
Ivan Menjivar def. John Albert via 1st Submission (rear-naked choke) (3:45)
Jonathan Brookins def. Vagner Rocha via 1st Round KO (1:32)
Justin Salas def. Anton Kuivanen via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-27)
Tim Means def. Bernardo Magalhaes via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
Post-Fight Bonuses:
Fight Of The Night - Jake Ellenberger vs Diego Sanchez ($50,000)
Knockout Of The Night - Stipe Miocic ($50,000)
Submission Of The Night - Ivan Menvijar ($50,000)
