Stefan Struve vs. Dave Herman (Fuel TV screen capture)
Sanchez, Ellenberger hit 170 pounds for main event
All fighters for the UFC’s debut on Fuel TV successfully made weight Tuesday for their Wednesday fights in Omaha, Neb.
Tuesday’s official weigh-in event took place at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, site of Wednesday’s UFC on Fuel: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger card, which will be televised live on the Fox-owned Fuel TV cable channel. The UFC on Fuel event is the first under the promotion’s seven-year network television deal with Fox, which kicked off at the start of this year.
Main event welterweights Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger each weighed in at 170 pounds. Ellenberger was the clear crowd favorite, naturally, since he’s fighting in his home town and training base of Omaha. He told event emcee Jon Anik that he was looking forward to fighting in the same building he graduated high school in.
“It’s definitely exciting to come back here and be around friends and family,” Ellenberger (26-5, 5-1 UFC) said. “It’s extremely exciting to get back in there. I’m focused, and I’m looking to finish him.”
Sanchez, the Season 1 middleweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” will be fighting in hostile territory. It will be his first fight in nearly a year after a close unanimous decision win over Martin Kampmann last March in Louisville, Ky. A broken hand sidelined him in the fall and kept him out of a fight with UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes. But Sanchez played down Ellenberger’s home-cage advantage.
“When they lock the doors it’s just me and him in there, and that’s all that matters,” Sanchez said.
Co-main event heavyweight Stefan Struve will have at least a 22-pound weight advantage over Dave Herman, who rocked a new full beard and a pink scarf when he took the stage. Struve (22-5, 6-3 UFC) weighed in at 256 pounds; Herman was 234.
Wednesday’s four-fight preliminary card will stream live in several places. The UFC’s Facebook fan site, as well as Fuel TV’s Facebook fan site, will stream the bouts, as will UFC.com and Fuel.tv. The main card airs live at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fuel TV.
The official weigh-in results are below:
Main Card (Fuel TV)
Diego Sanchez (170) vs. Jake Ellenberger (170)
Stefan Struve (256) vs. Dave Herman (234)
Aaron Simpson (186) vs. Ronny Markes (185)
Stipe Miocic (240) vs. Philip De Fries (241)
T.J. Dillashaw (136) vs. Walel Watson (135)
Ivan Menjivar (135) vs. John Albert (135)
Preliminary Card (Facebook)
Jonathan Brookins (145) vs. Vagner Rocha (145)
Buddy Roberts (184) vs. Sean Loeffler (185)
Anton Kuivanen (156) vs. Justin Salas (155)
Tim Means (155) vs. Bernardo Magalhaes (155)