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I guess those rumours about Sanchez and Ellenberger fighting may have been true, just not for the Fox show.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/26304/jake-el ... uel-tv.mma

A key welterweight matchup between Jake Ellenberger (26-5 MMA, 5-1 UFC) and Diego Sanchez (23-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) has been scheduled for February.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed with sources close to the event that Ellenberger and Sanchez will headline an as-yet-unannounced fight card expected to take place on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

While UFC brass have yet to make an official announcement, additional sources indicated that the event will likely take place in Ellenberger's hometown of Omaha, Neb., and air on FUEL TV.

Omaha's 18,000-seat CenturyLink Center (formerly Qwest Center Omaha) is said to be the leading candidate to host the event, but venue officials declined to comment on the potential booking.

Love this fight, but that's going to be 6 events from Jan 14 to Feb 25. I don't want to come across as complaining about more MMA, especially when it's free, but they are really pushing the boundaries of over-saturation.

Wait so there will be..

ufc on fox events
ufc on fx events
AND ufc on fuel events?

Looks that way, if this is announced as expected.

Plus PPVs, live TUF episodes, etc.

Lots of MMA events, I am loving it!

Key welterweight fight?

The only important part of this fight is that Jake Ellenberger mauls Diego Sanchez and keeps himself in line for a title shot. Sanchez has no chance in this fight, none.

10) Jake Ellenberger.

It's two guys in the top 10-15 and the winner is probably (at most) one more fight away from a title shot. I'd classify that as a key fight, regardless of who you think is going to win and how sure you are of it.

spykelee wrote:Key welterweight fight?

The only important part of this fight is that Jake Ellenberger mauls Diego Sanchez and keeps himself in line for a title shot. Sanchez has no chance in this fight, none.

10) Jake Ellenberger.

Well, Diego has a few judge's gifts here and there.

I like him, but if Jake lets it go to the judges, you never know.

Ellenberger should be the top contender behind Diaz and Condit.

Diego is 2-2 in his last 4 and got mauled by Kampmann last time out.

Diego is scrappy and could win, but they are on diff levels in the division at the moment, imo.

Does anyone here have fuel btw?

I'm not 100% convinced it actually exists.

REDDzone wrote:Ellenberger should be the top contender behind Diaz and Condit.

Diego is 2-2 in his last 4 and got mauled by Kampmann last time out.

Diego is scrappy and could win, but they are on diff levels in the division at the moment, imo.

Ellenberger is definitely in a tier above Diego right now, and that will probably be more apparent after the fight, but it's still a fight that makes a lot of sense.

Diego may have some sketchy decision wins, but his overall resume blows Ellenberger's out of the water. Ellenberger has the Shields win, which is nice, but his second biggest win is what...Mike Pyle? Friggin Gil Castillo? If Ellenberger wins, Sanchez would be his second biggest win and it wouldn't be close. If Sanchez were to somehow win, all of a sudden he's a guy with name value on a 3 fight win streak, with those wins being Thiago, Kampmann, and Ellenberger. One more big win (again, unlikely) would put him right there for a title shot.

I've got no problem with making Ellenberger the favourite, or even thinking he'll run through Diego, because he probably will (though it will most likely be a decision), but acting like the fight shouldn't even happen or it isn't an important fight in the division is pushing it.

I never said it isn't important or that it shouldn't happen, personally.

I think there are fights that make more sense, but I'm not complaining either way.

Ellenberger/Condit and Kos/Diego is where they should have gone here imo. The former for the next title shot.

REDDzone wrote:I never said it isn't important or that it shouldn't happen, personally.

I think there are fights that make more sense, but I'm not complaining either way.

Ellenberger/Condit and Kos/Diego is where they should have gone here imo. The former for the next title shot.

I was still talking about the other guy. Just quoted you to make the first point, and then kinda got carried away.

Ellenberger/Condit and Kos/Diego would have made more sense (though I'm not too interested in the latter fight) in a way, but I think they are trying to preserve both Condit and Ellenberger for title shots. Not that they have easy fights, but putting them against each other guarantees one of them loses and won't be fighting for the title for another year or two. With GSP having nearly cleared out the division, Rumble heading to MW, and MacDonald possibly not wanting to fight GSP, they need all the contenders they can get.

Teh Fitchhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!11111111

Ellenberger's still a win away even if he beats Diego. He could fight the Diaz/GSP loser (it's valid right now, but no one would complain about quality of opponent then) while Condit/Kos gets the title shot. If Kos/Diego win, Fitch would be the backup plan and hopefully by 2013 someone like Weidman or MacDonald is ready.

I actually like all these events. Keep em coming.

SDM wrote:Ellenberger's still a win away even if he beats Diego. He could fight the Diaz/GSP loser (it's valid right now, but no one would complain about quality of opponent then) while Condit/Kos gets the title shot. If Kos/Diego win, Fitch would be the backup plan and hopefully by 2013 someone like Weidman or MacDonald is ready.

There's just no way Kos gets the shot again imo. Not for a looooooooooooooong ass time.

REDDzone wrote:

SDM wrote:Ellenberger's still a win away even if he beats Diego. He could fight the Diaz/GSP loser (it's valid right now, but no one would complain about quality of opponent then) while Condit/Kos gets the title shot. If Kos/Diego win, Fitch would be the backup plan and hopefully by 2013 someone like Weidman or MacDonald is ready.

There's just no way Kos gets the shot again imo. Not for a looooooooooooooong ass time.

Yeah, Kos and Shields are banned from title shots for the next five years. Fitch could very well be useful to Dana again.

Let's amend this to "if gsp remains champ".

Could you even imagine the dialogue between Kos and Diaz? If both those guys win, it could happen.

I can just picture Diaz calling Kos "f*ggle rock".

Perhaps the best case scenario would be Condit and Diaz winning, so that we can hear for 5 months how "Conduit" doesn't train like Diaz trains.

Unless of course Diaz has some equally awesome way to pronounce Kosheck's name - "Ko-shack"?