Blogkick: UFC 126 Jake Ellenberger vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha

Jake Ellenberger was on a four fight winning streak before dropping a somewhat controversial split decision loss to Carlos Condit at UFC Fight Night 19. Ellenberger had the best of the early portion of what was a predominantly stand up fight and almost finished Condit in the first round before Condit came back and won the fight via split decision. Since then Ellenberger has won his last two fights and will look to maintain form against the older but somewhat less experienced Rocha.

Rocha is undefeated with most of his victories coming against lesser known European opponents. This will be Rocha’s first professional fight outside Europe with all of his previous fights taking place in Germany. It is difficult to predict how he will respond to fighting in unfamiliar territory, particularly at a venue as daunting as the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Ellenberger will be a significant step up in competition for the Brazilian submission specialist. The American has one loss via submission on his record and this is almost certainly the avenue Rocha will aim to exploit. Ellenberger’s blue belt in BJJ and wrestling background, however, should be enough for him to avoid being submitted and he should be able to use his superior stand up to earn a TKO or a one sided unanimous decision victory.