I argued with my cable provider for over an hour during the prelims over whether or not I was actually paying for Fuel TV (I am). Once I got to 10 minutes before the fight, I knew it was time for drastic action. Realizing I was in what was a losing battle, I drove straight to a local sports bar to watch the fights. After arguing with the server that there was in fact a UFC event on tonight, I sat down while the manager turned the channel on the nearest few TVs to Fuel TV for UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs Ellenberger. The Menjivar rear naked choke was already locked in by the time the channel was finally switched over, but I could already tell that this was a high production-value event.
TJ Dillishaw vs Walel Watson was a revelation. Each round was a showcase of Dillishaw’s talents as he imposed his will over Watson in the octagon, but at the beginning of each round, Watson stepped out of his corner as fresh as if he had just gotten out of the shower. Dillishaw’s stand up and ground game proved to be more than Watson could handle in the end, however, as Dillishaw turned in a unanimous decision, winning more than one round 10-8 by 2 of the judges scorecards.
Stipe Miocic didn’t wear his Cro Cop trunks today, but he did wear the Croatian crest on his shorts, delivering a 43 second knockout to Philip De Fries. Miocic took a few punches to the head while biding his time for an opening to a quick finish, showcasing his Golden Gloves pedigree as well as his granite chin. The word opening is the closest word to describe the hairline fracture in De Fries’s standup that allowed Miocic to land a punch that impacted at the chin and ran all the way through to the ear to end this fight.
Ronny Markes had an incredibly close fight with Aaron Simpson. It was certainly a back and forth battle that was difficult to score on my part, reflected in the judges split decision to Ronny Markes. Both thought they had won the fight, and with good reason too, this was a back and forth battle that was exhausting to watch, let alone fight.
Stefan Struve put on a textbook Struve performance with Dave Herman; Herman showed great tact and striking against Struve, yet Struve was able to demonstrate his superior ground game and mount, landing blows against Dave Herman for the better part of a minute to end Herman’s night.
Finally, Sanchez Vs Ellenberger turned out to be no shortage of fireworks. From the bell, both fighters exploded out of their corners in a whirlwind of fists and shins. As I watched this fight, I eyed the clock and counted to myself a couple of times to make sure that the Fuel channel wasn’t speeding up the last fight. In round one, I felt that the striking went to Ellenberger, and a takedown with ground and pound cemented the score to the Omaha native. The hometown hero scored again in the second as a barrage of strikes landed Sanchez in hot water. Sanchez was not dejected, however, in the third round managed to find many dominant positions over Ellenberger, but unable to finish the fight, costing Sanchez the decision by unanimous decision. The fight was scored 29-28 Ellenberger.