UFC Fight Night 25: Shields vs Ellenberger Discussion Thread

[Egg Shen]

few thoughts:

 

* McGee/Yang was a poor fight up until the 3rd round. Both guys seemed hesitant to really engage so it was a cagey fight. McGee fights a little too one paced for me, he's kinda slow and labouring. Anyone else get pissed by Rogan's constant praise of McGee's cardio? when Rogan latches onto something he keeps blabbering on about it, i aint denying McGee doesn't have good cardio but it was hardly a draining fight where he really showed it off.

 

* Brookins/Koch - this will split opinion, i had Brookins winning 29-28 but it all comes down to whether or not you score Brookin's unsuccesful takedowns. Thing is they wern't shrugged off takedowns, more a case of Brookin's applying constant pressure. Would have liked to seen a little more aggression in the clinch but i scored it for Brookins. There's something unlikeable about Koch too, so maybe my scorings a little biased.

 

* Belcher/MacDonald - Well Belcher showed no ring-rust, he blasted MacDonald out of there, Belchers another guy ive never really liked but he looked good here and its good to have him back in the division.

 

Prelims had some good shit on them though.

 

Riddle/Benoist was a deserving fight of the night, a bloody 3 round battle. Riddle's a stronger character than his persona suggests, he was getting lit up in round 1 but he rallied to have a strong 2nd and 3rd. I personally had Riddle winning but i think i might e basing that on him clearly winning the 3rd. Benoist looks great though! i want to see him in there with a striker.

 

Shamar Bailey in good fight shocker!!! Baileys been getting stick for months but it seemed like he wanted to prove a point to fans last night, bascially decided to have a kickboxing match with Dunham, and he paid the price! Bailey got battered, but in the loss he probably earned more respect from the fans than he has in his previous 3 fights (including TUF). I honestly think that if Bailey had stunk the joint out with a loss they'd have cut him, but his surely earned himself another shot.

 

McKenzie/Rocha was fun too, but it was a sad case of McKenzie realising his limitations. You have to love the guys charisma and spirit but he was outclassed, game and exciting to watch but Rocha was simply too good for him. I hope he gets one more chance though.

[David]

As soon as Shields started making his way to the cage I knew he shouldn't have chosen to go ahead with the fight. In a weird way, his reactions, right down to the pre-fight staredown in the centre of the cage during the referees instructions reminded me of the first fight between Rocky & Clubber Lang in Rocky III when Mickey died.

 

It's one thing having your father die recently, but entirely another when he's been so involved in your fight career since the start. When they were doing the introductions you could see that there was a visible space behind Shields where his cornermen were standing, and he must have known it.

 

Unfortunately for Ellenberger, this win is always going to be tainted somewhat by those circumstances, be it right or wrong.

 

I'm sure that Shields will not be held accountable for that loss, as he really stepped up for the company by not pulling out. If he had, this card would have been seriously fucked beyond all repair. Who would have stepped in to replace him?

 

It was a good win for Ellenberger, but for anyone to think he was fighting the same Jake Shields who stood across the cage from GSP is ridiculous.

[CUFC]

Thought it was an all round poor fight card really!

 

Alan Belcher looked superb in his fight, I've always really enjoyed his fights so happy he won.

 

I also had Brookins winning 29-28 due to his control of the octagon taking presedence over a few striking flurries from Koch.

 

The McGee/Yang fight was a massive let down also.

 

Have to agree with the pick for FOTN choice in Benoist v Riddle, superb three round bloodbath, just goes to show, you should always watch the Facebook prelims, they're often better than the main card fights!

[Egg Shen]

did anyone not really agree with the UFC opening show by having Jake Shields talk about his fathers death? I dunno why but it din't sit well with me. It kind of felt like they were exploting the situation a little. I would have had no problem with them mentioning it during the broadcast but i didnt see why they needed to open up the show with it.

[CUFC]

did anyone not really agree with the UFC opening show by having Jake Shields talk about his fathers death? I dunno why but it din't sit well with me. It kind of felt like they were exploting the situation a little. I would have had no problem with them mentioning it during the broadcast but i didnt see why they needed to open up the show with it.

 

Agree totally, especially when it's been all over the fight build up! Don't mean to sound harsh, but we all knew about it, why couldn't they just mention it and focus on the fight?!

[METAL ON METAL]

It was a good win for Ellenberger, but for anyone to think he was fighting the same Jake Shields who stood across the cage from GSP is ridiculous.

 

Whilst Shields obviously won't have been 100% in the right frame of mind, what you're saying is very demeaning of Ellenberger.

 

The fight lasted a minute and whatever Shields (motivated or unmotivated) was in the cage would still have been KO'ed off those shots, frame of mind doesn't effect the other persons power of punching. Shields would've been KO'ed regardless.

[wandshogun09]

did anyone not really agree with the UFC opening show by having Jake Shields talk about his fathers death? I dunno why but it din't sit well with me. It kind of felt like they were exploting the situation a little. I would have had no problem with them mentioning it during the broadcast but i didnt see why they needed to open up the show with it.

 

Yeah reminded me a bit of Vince McMahon interviewing Pillman's wife on live TV the day after he died. Obviously not as bad as that but we didn't need to see it.

 

 

Never gave my thoughts on the show. Wasn't really a great card but there was some decent stuff there.

 

I like Belcher's style of fighting. He seems a bit of a knob but he's always worth watching. I was a tad disappointed it ended so quick though cos I thought this was the one fight on the card that was guaranteed to deliver.

 

Brookins/Koch was the disappointment of the night for me. I really thought their clash of styles would make for a great fight but it was pretty shit. Like Ebb, Koch again is someone who's fighting style I really like but he seems like a cock. He showed some really good takedown defence and unfortunatley the whole thing was a stalemate where pretty much fuck all happened.

 

The scoring was really a case of what you score more for. Control or damage. Brookins certainly had the control throughout most of the fight but Koch inflicted more damage (not loads but he deffo did more damage). Tricky because in a 5 minute round if one guy controls 3 1/2 minutes but then the other guy does the most damage of the round but in the last minute or so who do you give it to?

 

Ellenberger has put himself right up there at the top of the division with that win. I don't think they will give him a title shot right away but I can see them giving him Fitch or the winner of Kos/Hughes or something and a title shot if he wins that. Depends how Penn vs Diaz plays out I guess.

 

I liked Riddle's fight on the prelims, deffo deserved FOTN.