If you’ve been hiding out under a 145-lbs rock for a few weeks, it might come as a surprise that UFC 189 is not the only MMA event taking place in an eight-sided cage this weekend. For some odd reason, UFC decided to follow the biggest Pay-Per-View event of the year with a rather bland and pedestrian Ultimate Fighter Season 21 finale the very next day. To be fair, this is actually a decent card by TUF Finale standards. There are no titles or even title shots on the line here, and I’ve stopped watching ‘TUF’ many seasons ago, so I don’t care much about the finals per se. Still, there is a handful of fights worth catching here, and if you’re a gambler, perhaps recoup some of your losses from the Mendes-McGregor fight on one of MMA betting sites.
Main Event: [#15 WW] Jake Ellenberger vs [#29 WW] Stephen Thompson
Worth: $10
Why: A seasoned veteran taking on a young prospect: a story as old as combat sports. But it’s always unusual when the veteran is actually younger than the prospect, despite having a huge advantage in fight experience (or disadvantage in the mileage/wear and tear that comes with the fight experience, depending on how you look at it). Such is the case in this fight: 30 year old Ellenberger has been fighting for over 10 years, with 39 recorded professional bouts under his belt, while his 32 year old opponent has only been in the sport for 5 years and competed in just 11 fights.
Ellenberger is a fairly well-rounded fighter, who tends to overly rely on his punching power, yet often hesitates to pull the trigger in striking exchanges. This has prevented him from ever getting a shot at the welterweight gold, and cost him 3 consecutive losses. On the verge of losing his spot on the UFC roster, ‘The Juggernaut’ made a nice comeback with a second round submission of Josh Koscheck, and will now look to build another win streak. Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is primarily a striker, with the only loss of his career coming via a decision courtesy of Matt Brown. Although Thompson’s last fight with Patrick Cote was a very boring affair, the karate expert has knocked out 3 of his 6 UFC opponents, so Ellenberger would be wise to take this fight to the ground. However Jake has never demonstrated a great fight IQ, so I expect him to attempt slugging it out with Thompson. This fight could really be anything from a quick and brutal KO by either opponent, to a 5-round dance competition. Of course I am hoping it doesn’t turn into the latter.