Jake Ellenberger (UFC)
Welterweight bout scheduled for five rounds
The UFC has its main event for the season finale of “The Ultimate Fighter LIVE,” and it’ll be a five-rounder.
Martin Kampmann and Jake Ellenberger will meet in the main event of the first TUF Live Finale on June 1 at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas. The UFC announced the fight Wednesday afternoon.
Kampmann and Ellenberger will headline the card, but the event will also feature the lightweight finals of this season’s TUF competition, the fights for which air live on Fridays on FX. The TUF Live Finale also will be broadcast live on FX, and as with previous seasons of the show, other cast members who don’t make the finals also are likely to be a part of the card.
Kampmann (19-5, 10-4 UFC) is coming off of one of the biggest comebacks in UFC history earlier this month when he stunned Thiago Alves with a third-round guillotine choke at UFC on FX 2 in Sydney, Australia. Kampmann was down two rounds on the judges’ scorecards, and many analysts believed Alves looked as good as he ever has. But when Alves shot for a takedown in the last minute of the fight, Kampmann latched on to a guillotine that forced the Brazilian to tap with just 48 seconds left in the fight – and a certain decision victory.
That win gave Kampmann two in a row after a pair of controversial decision losses. At UFC 139 in November, Kampmann outpointed Rick Story to take the sting away from back-to-back setbacks against Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez. Kampmann lost a split decision against Shields at UFC 121 in a fight many observers believed he won. And he suffered a similar fate at UFC on Versus 3 a year ago, though the judges gave that fight unanimously to Sanchez.
Ellenberger (27-5, 6-1 UFC) is on a six-fight winning streak after a unanimous decision victory over Sanchez last month in his home city of Omaha at UFC on Fuel TV. Ellenberger dominated the striking for the first two rounds of the fight, but had to survive a late rally from Sanchez to take the decision victory in the three-round bout. Prior to that, he notched a 53-second upset knockout win over Jake Shields at UFC Fight Night 25 in September.
Over the course of Ellenberger’s six straight wins at welterweight, he has four knockout wins. His lone UFC loss came against current interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit, a split decision setback in his UFC debut.
Ellenberger had lobbied for a shot at Condit for the interim title – a chance to get back his only UFC loss and put himself first in line for a shot at champ Georges St-Pierre when he returns. But it appears that Condit is likely to sit out until St-Pierre is ready to return, which could be this November at UFC 154 in Montreal.