Official: Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger

[counterstrike]

Not really sure I agree. Shields has a lame and very weak TD. It's effectively, the traditional single leg BJJ takedown which is laughably ineffective against anyone with a measure of TDD.
So his 26 wins were not due to his being able to take down his opponents, including Dan Henderson? I would say that Henderson has some pretty dam good TDD.

Hendo is a greco-roman style wrestler, which is a much different from free-style wrestling, which is what GSP practices. Greco roman is all about grappling in close; dirty boxing, etc, and TDs are usually done in close, as with double underhooks. This is because Greco Roman wrestling doesn't use an opponent's legs for defense or offense. It doesn't allow any holds below the waist. As a result, greco-roman style wrestlers just don't learn how to do TD shots at someone's legs. You take someone down in close, with a throw; and you defend like that.

Free style, or collegiate wrestling, is a lot different. It incorporates much more powerful TD shots, and TD defense, because opponents attack your legs (for a TD) and you can attack your opponent that way, and thus, also forces wrestlers to learn how to do powerful sprawls to defend against TDs.

I actually don't think Hendo has all that great TD defense; he's good at dirty boxing and grappling in close, as his style of wrestling dictates; but rarely sprawls and his TD defense is nowhere near GSP's. Thus, Shields couldn't take down GSP; it wasn't even close. But Shields took down Hendo.

Ellenberger looked good, but honestly, I wasn't that impressed. He punches hard, yes, probably harder than GSP, but it wasn't a punch that felled Shields, but a nice knee to the head. He just exposed Shields' weak takedowns and even weaker striking.
So a guy that JUST went 5 rounds with GSP gets completely destroyed in under a minute and is the first time he was stopped in 11 years and you are not impressed? What would impress you?

I think Ellenberger is a bad matchup for shields. Good TD defense and hard striking. He came out aggressive, landed a few good strikes, and Jake made some strategic mistakes, and seemed a little off. To be more impressed, I'd want to see him against more top 10 competition. The only guy he's faced with any reputation other than Shields was Condit, and he lost. So... I'm going to hold off the Jake Ellenberger War Wagon'ing for a few more fights.

People who think Ellenberger could beat GSP, should put the breaks on that proposition right now. I think Ellenberger fought Shields with more aggression and reckless abandon than GSP-- hence the early stoppage-- but GSP is so tough to beat for the very reason he is so strategic and sticks to whatever plan he decides, and does not go in there with uncapped aggression.
They are obviously different styles, saying GSP is less aggressive than Ellenberger is not a reason GSP would win lmao. GSP is obviously the best WW in the world, but he is not unbeatable; that is the proposition that should stop right now.

I definitely don't think GSP is unbeatable. I just think Ellenberger, as I said above, was a bad match up, fight style wise, for Shields. I'm happy to be proven wrong. I want to see more from Ellenberger, that's all.

[irishmike357]

I definitely don't think GSP is unbeatable. I just think Ellenberger, as I said above, was a bad match up, fight style wise, for Shields. I'm happy to be proven wrong. I want to see more from Ellenberger, that's all.

Guess we can agree to disagree on everything else. I also don't think Ellenberger will be getting a title shot just yet, I would rather see him beat on some other guys first anyway.

I think Ellenberger is a worse match up for GSP than the people I mentioned and it is pretty obvious.

Fitch- Very good wrestling, bad striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

Shields- Great grappling, terrible striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

Kos- Very good wrestling, decent striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

BJ- Good striking, Good BJJ (not a great bottom game). Not going to stop GSPs take downs.

Hardy- worst wrestling in the division maybe?


Ellenberger- Harder hitter than any of them, except maybe Hardy; and is a very strong and skilled wrestler. If he can keep it standing at all he has a chance to score a TKO.

[Fightforit]

I definitely don't think GSP is unbeatable. I just think Ellenberger, as I said above, was a bad match up, fight style wise, for Shields. I'm happy to be proven wrong. I want to see more from Ellenberger, that's all.

Guess we can agree to disagree on everything else. I also don't think Ellenberger will be getting a title shot just yet, I would rather see him beat on some other guys first anyway.

I think Ellenberger is a worse match up for GSP than the people I mentioned and it is pretty obvious.

Fitch- Very good wrestling, bad striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

Shields- Great grappling, terrible striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

Kos- Very good wrestling, decent striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

BJ- Good striking, Good BJJ (not a great bottom game). Not going to stop GSPs take downs.

Hardy- worst wrestling in the division maybe?


Ellenberger- Harder hitter than any of them, except maybe Hardy; and is a very strong and skilled wrestler. If he can keep it standing at all he has a chance to score a TKO.

Ellenberger, Condit, Story all present different problems for GSP.
Story just lacks experience and hard knocks.
Ellenberger is a beast, but I don't think he has anything special that the big boys don't.
Condit, well, he's a freakin Zombie and that fight is just around the corner.
All in all, for what opponents have for GSP that is better, GSP has the discipline to not let them use it. It has always been the key to his success.

[julio7]

Brutal finish by Ellenberger.. I thought this fight would be a long chess match..

[Taekwondo_Dood]

Brutal finish by Ellenberger.. I thought this fight would be a long chess match..

Me too, the guy gets finished for the first time in 7 years and everyone says he overrated and weak takedowns because he couldn't take down the ref, if your out of it, of course your going to suck at doing stuff soon after.

[irishmike357]

Brutal finish by Ellenberger.. I thought this fight would be a long chess match..

Me too, the guy gets finished for the first time in 7 years and everyone says he overrated and weak takedowns because he couldn't take down the ref, if your out of it, of course your going to suck at doing stuff soon after.

First time in 11 years

[MMA Addict]

ellenberger will be subbed by jake shields mark my words linkers!!

What happen?

He thought that Jake was better than Jake but he neglected to see that Jake has great TDD and heavy hands, which is why Jake got finished while Jake took the win.

[counterstrike]

I definitely don't think GSP is unbeatable. I just think Ellenberger, as I said above, was a bad match up, fight style wise, for Shields. I'm happy to be proven wrong. I want to see more from Ellenberger, that's all.

Guess we can agree to disagree on everything else. I also don't think Ellenberger will be getting a title shot just yet, I would rather see him beat on some other guys first anyway.

I think Ellenberger is a worse match up for GSP than the people I mentioned and it is pretty obvious.

Fitch- Very good wrestling, bad striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

Shields- Great grappling, terrible striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

Kos- Very good wrestling, decent striker. Not going to outwrestle GSP.

BJ- Good striking, Good BJJ (not a great bottom game). Not going to stop GSPs take downs.

Hardy- worst wrestling in the division maybe?


Ellenberger- Harder hitter than any of them, except maybe Hardy; and is a very strong and skilled wrestler. If he can keep it standing at all he has a chance to score a TKO.

Fair enough. I would watch the fight!

[WandyCroCop]

I think Ellenberger's performance was impressive, no doubt. But do i think he'll beat GSP? Nah.... even on the feet GSP will jab Ellenberger to death. I see that fight being similar to the Kos fight.

[Taekwondo_Dood]

ellenberger will be subbed by jake shields mark my words linkers!!

What happen?

He thought that Jake was better than Jake but he neglected to see that Jake has great TDD and heavy hands, which is why Jake got finished while Jake took the win.

I think it was a good fight by Jake, Jake showed us what hes about we learned alot about Jake in this fight. Jake needs to improve on some areas that Jake showed us in the fight. Too bad Jake had to lose but atleast Jake won.

[Fightforit]

ellenberger will be subbed by jake shields mark my words linkers!!

What happen?

He thought that Jake was better than Jake but he neglected to see that Jake has great TDD and heavy hands, which is why Jake got finished while Jake took the win.

I think it was a good fight by Jake, Jake showed us what hes about we learned alot about Jake in this fight. Jake needs to improve on some areas that Jake showed us in the fight. Too bad Jake had to lose but atleast Jake won.

I was counting on Jake to win...
Didn't pan out

[julio7]

Brutal finish by Ellenberger.. I thought this fight would be a long chess match..

Me too, the guy gets finished for the first time in 7 years and everyone says he overrated and weak takedowns because he couldn't take down the ref, if your out of it, of course your going to suck at doing stuff soon after.

yeah, shields is a tough guy, but the knee and punches were really brutal..

[MMA Addict]

ellenberger will be subbed by jake shields mark my words linkers!!

What happen?

He thought that Jake was better than Jake but he neglected to see that Jake has great TDD and heavy hands, which is why Jake got finished while Jake took the win.

I think it was a good fight by Jake, Jake showed us what hes about we learned alot about Jake in this fight. Jake needs to improve on some areas that Jake showed us in the fight. Too bad Jake had to lose but atleast Jake won.

I agree.

If Jake were to ever have lost like that, I'm glad it was to Jake. Jake really took it to Jake and hopefully both Jake's get good fights in the future.

[Rico Is A Beast]

very impressive performance by Ellenberger....i agree with the stoppage, Shields man not have been out, but he took 6-7 flush, unanswered punches & the position in which Ellenberger was lying on top of him, the rapid fire punches were just gonna keep coming...i don't think shields was gonna be able to move Ellenberger off of him...so fair stoppage IMO

Where do they go from here....For Ellenberger, only choice IMO is the winner of Penn/Diaz for the next title shot at GSP/Condit winner.

for Shields, either the winner of Fitch/Hendricks or the winner of Kos/Hughes

[irishmike357]

Where do they go from here....For Ellenberger, only choice IMO is the winner of Penn/Diaz for the next title shot at GSP/Condit winner.

for Shields, either the winner of Fitch/Hendricks or the winner of Kos/Hughes

Ellenberger vs Diaz or Penn would be freaking sick, so would Condit vs Penn/Diaz and so is Penn vs Diaz. I am pretty pumped for these fights.

As for Shields, I really think he deserves a "gimme" fight lol. How about the Spaniard? Or some one on that level? I would like to see Shields vs Hughes though, both have bad stand up and good ground games. I think Fitch/Kos would just reverse wrestle Shields and beat him standing.