Jake Ellenberger not afraid to go the full five rounds
Jake Ellenberger is on a rise up the UFC Welterweight division rankings, currently enjoying a six-fight winning streak with four (T)KO finishes. Having only lost a razor-thin decision to Carlos Condit in his last eleven, Ellenberger seeks a title shot with a win over Martin Kampmann on June 1st. While it would appear that Ellenberger is riding high right now, many have become his detractor after he came out strong against Diego Sanchez at UFC on Fuel TV 1 last February but faded late in the third round. His critics said that he was gassed and unable to win were the fight to go into later rounds. Ellenberger is opposed to these comments, and spoke back against his critics on MMAWeekly.com:
“Well first I think Diego is an extremely tough fight. I think he’s a tough fight for anybody in the world. He would be a tough fight for anybody who competes in MMA. I say that because you can watch this guy on TV and say wow he looks tough, but anybody who fights him and you’ll see how tough he is.”
Ellenberger has great respect for the experienced Sanchez, who is no doubt a game fighter who can go the distance. Still, Ellenberger believes that he can fight the full five rounds decisively. He continued:
“In the last fight could I have gone five rounds? Absolutely. I think people need to take in mind (saying) ‘oh he looked tired.’ Well, he had my back. That is the worst position to be in, in a fight. I’d rather be mounted than for someone to have your back because it’s so hard to escape. I obviously escaped the position at the end of the fight, but could I have fought two more rounds? Absolutely. People can speculate but if I had to go five rounds, I absolutely could.”
Ellenberger touched on the subject of MMA critics basing their entire view of a fighter based upon his last fight, which does tend to happen in today’s fast-paced world. “The Juggernaut” is not affected by these narrow-minded views, however, and looks to do the only thing he can, win, the fight:
“That’s the thing about this sport, people generally judge on one fight. People talk all the time, I don’t really care to be honest. I’m just going to control what I can control, and I’m going to prepare myself for five rounds knowing that this fight could definitely go five rounds.”
Jake Ellenberger will seek to prove his critics wrong, even if the fight goes five rounds in Las Vegas at the Ultimate Fighter Finale. If he can succeed, perhaps a Welterweight title shot, and even a shot at revenge over Carlos Condit will await.
Further Reading: Jake Ellenberger: I want to fight for the UFC Welterweight title
