UFC Fight Night 25: Shields vs. Ellenberger

[INDYjon22]

MainCard

• Welterweight Bout: Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger
• Middleweight Bout: Alan Belcher vs. Jason MacDonald
• Lightweight Bout: Erik Koch vs. Jonathan Brookins
• Middleweight Bout: Dongi Yang vs. Court McGee

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

• Lightweight Bout: Evan Dunham vs. Shamar Bailey
• Welterweight Bout: TJ Waldburger vs. Mike Stumpf
• Bantamweight Bout: Ken Stone vs. Donny Walker
• Lightweight Bout: Cody McKenzie vs. Vagner Rocha
• Welterweight Bout: Matt Riddle vs. Lance Benoist
• Welterweight Bout: Jorge Lopez vs. Justin Edwards
• Welterweight Bout: Seth Baczynski vs. Clay Harvison
• Featherweight Bout: Robert Peralta vs. Mike Lullo

Not the sexiest card this year, but some of the least attractive cards actually end up becoming pretty fun to watch. Hopefully that is what happens Saturday. I won't hold my breathe though.

The only fight of any real star power is the main event. Shields is coming off his first loss in a long time and will be facing the rapidly rising Jake Ellenberger. Both guys are good wrestlers, Shields is better on the ground and Ellenberger is probably better on the feet. I worries about this fight though because Shields conditioning at 170 has never greatly impressed me and the recent loss of his father will more then likely have him distracted. I hope the fight is better then I expect it to be, but I honestly am not that excited about it. I want Shields to win but complain if Ellenberger does instead.

I have never been a big fan of Alan Belcher. I find him to be a cocky cunt but in all honestly his fight with Jason MacDonald is the one I am looking forward to most. Both guys are never in a boring fight and this one could go either way. Both are well rounded but Belcher is better on the feet and MacDonald is a wizard on the ground. This fight could be ended anywhere, but I really think the odds are in MacDonalds favor since Belcher has been gone for such a long time.

Koch vs. Brookins could be a fun fight. Both guys are getting better with each fight but I think Brookins is the better fighter and will hopefully show that. I do think this fight goes to a decision because both men are tough as hell.

And Court McGee fights once again. I have no idea who his opponent is, which isn't good for them. McGee has shown a lot of heart in the UFC so far but has a tendency to be a slow starter who takes a bit of a beating before finally showing up to fight. I hope this fight will finally be McGee's coming out party as someone to actually watch in the Middleweight division.

Not a whole lot to say about the undercard. The only people that really interest me are Dunham, McKenzie, and Riddle. It is curious to see if Dunham will continue his losing way or if he will finally win a fight. It will be interesting to see if McKenzie can rebound from his first career loss and to see if he will win by guillotine once again. And, I just enjoy watching Matt Riddles career. I have been with through the highs and lows and hopefully he will pick up another win on Saturday.

Not the greatest show ever on paper, but it does have the potential to give us some fun fights, especially the MacDonald/Belcher fight. Other then that this card is built around building up the future stars, or potential stars, the UFC has some faith in.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Sorry I didn't post my predictions on this card INDY, I actually wrote out a huge in depth analysis of the card bottom of Prelim to top of Main card and when I hit post I lost all of it and it said I needed to log back in.

Actually turned out to be a pretty sick card, my favorite Submission was without a doubt T.J. Waldburger's Triangle victory over Mike Stumpf, he really impressed me and I definitely became a fan after that fight. My favorite Knock Out obviously goes to Jake Ellenberger, I feel horrible for Sheilds but am definitely happy that The Juggernaut will get a huge boost from this win and get more recognition as one of the top rising stars in the UFC Welterweight division. My favorite fight was probably Dunham vs Bailey, I loved seeing the energy that Dunham had, I always love watching his standup because it's so crisp and technical. Major props to Bailey for surviving and never backing down, he was outclassed but he and Evan put on a great show. Very sad to see my boys Cody Mckenzie and Jason Macdonald lose fights they really needed to win, I do think that Cody has enough of a following and he always puts on entertaining fights so hopefully Dana keeps him around and gives him another chance. He put on a great fight with Rocha and even though he was outmatched on the ground he put up one hell of a fight and got out of alot of precarious situations. Very glad Ken Stone scored a win tonight as well, he would have almost definitely gotten cut had he not won so i'm very happy for him.

So overall pretty good night of fights, wish that some had gone differently but most were pretty entertaining.

 

[Uncle Phatso]

I was like wow! Ellenberger won that fight? Jesus someone Ko'd Shields that's pretty fucking rough. I looked it up and still couldn't believe it. Then I read a page about his father dying. It's only been about 3 weeks since that happened, so I can't really say anything bad for Jake. It's shitty to lose, but it's shitty to lose a father.

Tallent just beat the fuck out of Jason. Alan just did it right, got him to the ground and Mac couldn't do shit. Mac needs some real ground training or people with wrestling, or other ground skills will just tear him apart.

Erik Koch vs. Jonathan Brookins, was a fun fight for me. I'm a big heavyweight fan as I've said. But I've been watching more and more smaller fighters and finding myself watching like I would with a heavyweight fight. Both men were hung up on the cage early into the fight. Brookins got a shitty takedown and it did nothing for him, Koch ate a big hand though. Brookins had nothing for striking thought, at least I think. Koch wasn't the best, but won it in my eyes with the "better" striking.

Yang is a very boring fighter...