UFC on Fuel 1: Live Results and Analysis of the UFC's First Main Card on Fuel TV
Diego Sanchez
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
Diego Sanchez may have finished 2011 with a controversial win over Martin Kampmann, but at UFC on Fuel 1, he gets a chance to silence the critics and prove he can win one on his own instead of just "gutting one out" inside the Octagon.
In order to do it, however, he must step into enemy territory and not only defeat Omaha, Nebraska's own Jake Ellenberger, but do so in such a way as to leave no doubt that he beat Ellenberger as badly as the judges claim that he beat Kampmann.
Underneath this headliner is a heavyweight clash of titans, as Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve faces off against multi-promotional veteran and consummate finisher Dave "Pee Wee" Herman.
Also, Ronny Markes drops down to middleweight to face Aaron "A-Train" Simpson, undefeated heavyweights do battle when Croatian-blooded Ohioan prospect Stipe Miocic faces British submission wizard Philip De Fries, and finally, TUF 14 bantamweight finalist T.J. "The Viper" Dillashaw looks to fully halt Walel "The Gazelle" Watson's momentum.
So, you wanted it all right here at Bleacher Report MMA for this, the best UFC on Fuel: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger live (blog) coverage found anywhere in the world?
Well, MMA world, you wanted it...so you got it!
Never mind, folks! We got a 29-28 sweep for Jake Ellenberger, your winner here tonight in a unanimous decision, but what a fight!
Ellenberger knows Diego's a gamer and he's as tough as anyone that any man will ever see inside the Octagon.
"Was that enough of a DOG FIGHT for ya?"
Oh hell yeah it was, Diego...but you could've left the ankle brace out of it, homie.
Well, folks, that'll be all for us right here at Bleacher Report MMA, and with that, I'm Dale De Souza thanking you for sticking with us from bell to bell for UFC on FUEL TV!
Ellenberger outdid Sanchez 23-1 in ground strikes, and Dana White wasn't kidding.
Sanchez is taking some shots that would have ended the nice for almost any other Welterweight and he is pursuing Ellenberger still.
Sanchez needs a finish in the third round or else he loses a clear 30-27 to Ellenberger.
He cuts Ellenberger open but still gets taken down and finishes the last minute on Jake Ellenberger's back, trying to work the rear naked choke and the ground-and-pound from Ellenberger's back but Ellenberger gets up as a brief exchange ends this round!
WHAT A FIGHT!!!!
As intense as any fight you'll ever see inside the Octagon, and I have it 29-28 Ellenbegrer, but I think we got another controversial decision on our hands!
Jake with some hell-bows to Sanchez and Sanchez is cut open without question right now!
UFC stats show Ellenberger with 19 head strikes and Sanchez with 11 strikes, and a big head kick from Ellenberger.
Diego with a spinning back kick that may have barely landed, and Ellenberger going in and out.
Sanchez looks a bit perplexed at what Ellenberger is presenting to him, but his movement seems linear so far, and the power-double-leg takedown from Ellenberger connects with a minute to go in the round!
Ellenberger is pressuring him early but Sanchez is not backing down.
Sanchez is coming forward and Ellenberger catches him a few times .
Big knee from Ellenberger but it seems to not faze Sanchez thus far.
Then again, the right eye does not look good early on, but Sanchez is keeping his intesity bottled up by his composure, coming in by the spurt and Ellenberger is respondign pretty well.
Ellenberger hurts Sanchez for the first time, and the round ends with some intense striking from both!
DID Jake break Diego's nose?
I cannot tell, but I want to say 10-9 Ellenberger. HELL of a first round though!
Sanchez with his bodyguard in his hand and his team trying to keep up with him...seriously, how entertaining is this guy?
Ellenberger with one inch of reach on Sanchez, but can he put Sanchez down AND out?
The Dream is in the black trunks, with The Juggernaut in the black trunks.
Are you ready?
Here we GO!!
Ellenberger grew up in Omaha and is in for a difficult bout against a Diego Sanchez like we have come to expect.
Sanchez does not care how much Ellenberger hurts him, nor does he care how much punishment Ellenberger tries to mount on him, because Sanchez would rather leave a split decision in the hands of the judges than let someone end his night early.
Ellenberger is out to "Coming Home", which seems to be the official theme song of any hometown hero, but I can't hate.
Ellenberger is in his second UFC main event, and he is on his own home turf, so what does he have to lose?
Struve gets a takedown on Herman and loses a rear naked choke while taking leg kicks all throughout from Herman.
Struve is landing hard and lands some heavy shots of his own but only enough to push Herman back until he lands the big bang--the uppercut--and finishes with some serious ground and pound from a mount.
Dave Herman might have been winning a round on volume striking and implemented a good striking strategy of breaking the legs down, but Struve's striking just looked leaps and bounds better than it's looked in the past.
No shame in losing to the tallest Heavyweight in the UFC since Semmy Schilt, though Schilt is a half-inch taller than Struve I think, but of course your winner here tonight is Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve!
Your main event of Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego Sanchez is coming up next on FUEL TV!
Struve with a reach advantage by seven inches. What else is new?
Herman in the white trunks (the guy with the beard), and Struve in the black trunks.
Josh Rosenthal is our referee.
No staredown?
Stefan using the reach early on, but Herman coming back strong and getting the better of the leg kicks.
Not much here in that first round, but likely 10-9 for Struve unless the combinations were enough...
...Damn Boxing judges.
Johnathan Brookins, and Vagner went back and forth with the more technical strikes but a body clinch leads to a takedown and some ground and pound that knocks Rocha out cold!
We take a commercial break after the fight airs and Anik talks to the champ, Frankie Edgar.
Edgar is confident in his skills regardless of wherever the fight goes, and has nothing bad to say about Bendo.
Dave Herman and Stefan Struve is coming up next...fasten your seatbelts, because this is going to be one hell of a ride!
A judge gave the fight 29-28 for Simpson, while the other two gave it 29-28 for Markes.
I think I actually gave all three to Markes, but then again, I didn't think Simpson would have gotten that 1st round.
The third round was probably the tough one to score, and I think maybe a judge felt that Simpson was being a bit more active than Markes in that round.
Vagner ROcha vs. Jonathan Brookins airs next.
Bookins in blue, Rocha in white
Markes's tries to to land high while Simpson goes low to the body in the third round, but Markes is controlling Simpson against the cage before the ref separates them.
Markes gets technical with his striking and just keeps pinning Simpson against the cage to look for an inside trip.
Crowd is not seeing the knees and attempted stomps before the ref separates Markes and Simpson.
Simpson is not finding much success with takedowns and spends the last minute getting up from a takedown, avoiding some ground and pound from the back and trying to push Markes away from the cage to end round three.
Ifyou gave Simpson that 1st round, it's 29-28 Markes.
If you didn't, it could be 30-27 for Markes.
Round two is looking more like Simpson's fight, but Markes is still showing some good compsure and scores a nice takedown late in the third.
He's handling the task of a wrestler pretty well, and so far it's looking competitive enough to be even through two rounds.
I'm going to guess that many probably thought Simpson stole the first round, but Markes took the second pretty well.
Benson "Smooth" Henderson is with Jon Anik, and Benson has nothing bad at all to say about Frankie Edgar. He recognizes the task ahead of him and he says it'll be an honor to take the belt from someone like Edgar.
Markes .vs Simpson is coming up now.
How does Markes' body respond to the weight cut? That's the big question.
Markes actually is at 216 pounds for this fight, so he will have the edge on size in addition to the reach.
The 23 year old is in the white trunks and Simpson, who responds to a barrage of early strikes from Markes, is in the black trunks.
Markes is grinding out Simpson against the cage but the two come back to the middle and Markes so far is more successful with his strikes, but as the fight wears on in the first round, Simpson lands a big uppercut and turns the tide.
Round ends with some good back-and-forth exchanges and we will see another five minutes of this fight!
Good first round. Overall 10-9 Markes unless Simpson stole it.
Miocic is a powerful dude, and he's not calling out anyone yet.
He says he wants to get better and wait for his call to get another fight, and that's a good way to go.
Don't expect De Fries to back down after this. His striking is an obvious weak spot, but he did rock Miocic for a time, according to Kenny Florian.
He'll need to tune his striking, but he'll be back better than ever.
In the meantime, middleweight action on deck as Aaron Simpson vs. Ronny Markes is up next!
A one inch reach for the older, lighter Miocic is a slight.
Looks like the camo trunks for De Fries and the black trunks for Miocic.
Dan Miragliotta is our ref, and they trade a little bit early on in this bout, but I don't see how pressuring Miocic is rocking him, KenFlo.
De Fries finds his range temporarily, but the straight right hand puts De Fries on his bike before dropping him and landing a few shots for the win!
The former NCAA Division I wrestler and Golden Gloves champ Miocic will face the submission wizard De Fries in a battle of unbeaten Heavyweights after a word from our sponsors.
Obvious that Miocic wants it standing and De Fries wants it on the ground, but watch out for Miocic's right hand, and be prepared for De Fries to show competence on the feet.
I would not be surprised if the reach were identical, if not De Fries' advantage or Miocic's advantage by a slight.
The judges have their decision.
Only one judge scores it a 30-26 for Dillashaw, with "The Viper" getting a solid unanimous decision win in the form of two scores of 30-25.
Nobody can say Dillashaw was boring, though.
Sure, Nebraska enjoys some good wrestling, but it was a fast paced bout with some active wrestling and some active groundwork.
Good final round from both, but an excellent performance from TJ Dillashaw, and Stipe Mioci faces Philip De Fries next!
Watson tries to throw some serious strikes and stick a good guillotine on DIllashaw but is unable to do much in either realm.
Is the "throw first, ask questions later" approach doing much for Watson?
He loses a flying triangle, an omoplata, and quite a few leg submissions, but he still winds up defending rear naked choke attempts from Dillashaw.
On paper, Watson hasn't won a round, but he's showing some good heart.
Let's call this a 30-26 for Dillashaw, but do not be surprised if Watson's takedown defense and last-round submission attempts stole him this fight.
Dillashaw lands the first blow on Watson but the takedown puts Watson in helicopter mode before Dillashaw gets in side control.
Dillashaw does a solid job of neutralizing Watson, who cannot get an energized Dillashaw off of him at this moment.
Watson looks like he's going to go out, but Dillashaw lets it go, sensing he is having trouble securing the choke properly.
The inability to secure the choke is a recurring theme throughout the round, but the crowd is not dead yet. A 10-9 for Dillashaw, but if there is such a thing as a 10-7, Watson might need that to get the best of the decision unless he can knock Dillashaw out or submit him.
Dillashaw is working feverishly with the one takedown he was able to do anything with, and he even gets a rear naked choke attempt.
Watson frees himself from the choke and the subsequent attempt at the choke.
Watson is trying to scramble up but cannot seem to get away without giving his back up.
Should this be a 10-8 for Dillashaw?
I won't contest that.
"Can't Be Touched"?
Really, Dillashaw?
With a walkout like that, you better be confident in your skills, but that's out of the question with an Ultimate Fighter 14 featherweight finalist, who was confident in what he could do last season in the house.
Josh Rosenthal is our ref right now and TJ Superman Punches before going for a takedown.
The Pride of El Salvador gets the first FUEL TV card off to a great start, and Menjivar talks about how he channeled Kazushi Sakuraba in order to survive Albert.
Contrary to what Florian says, I saw no short gas tank in this fight from Albert. It was all a matter of positioning.
Menjivar was able to work more effectively for a dominant position despite some sticky situations, and the fact of the matter is that Albert just got trapped in a bad position after seeming to be on the way to win the fight.
Up next, TJ Dillashaw vs. Walel Watson in another Bantamweight bout as we wrap up the first fight, and congratulations are in order for Mr. Ivan Menjivar!
As expected, Albert has a four inch reach advantage, but he wanted the main card spot and he will have to make the most of his opportunity on prime time.
Personally, I'd rather be staring down Menjivar than Albert, as is evident by his glare right now, and Jim Axtell is our ref tonight.
They touch up, Menjivar in the black trunks and Albert in the green trunks.
Albert is aggressive early, but gets too close and gets taken down.
Menjivar counters an omoplata properly and escapes two triangle attempts, as well as an armbar that could have been another omoplata attempt.
Albert loses a leg lock and almost finishes Menjivar.
Referee did not stop it for whatever reason and Albert nearly gets a guillotine, but gets taken down and give his back up to Menjivar, who locks in a rear naked choke and gets in some ground and pound from the back before finally getting the choke and forcing Albert to tap!
We're back from commercial and Menjivar vs. Albert is our first fight here on UFC on FUEL 1.
Menjivar is a onetime Welterweight that might give up the reach to Albert but he definitely has the speed to give The Ultimate Fighter 14's "Prince Albert" a bit of difficulty in a bout that Albert more-or-less asked for when he made it clear that the main card was his ultimate goal at this point in his career.
The Best of PRIDE is tomorrow night also, if you're watching the commercials.
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