(The power of YES!! compels you! Check out some of the meme-worthy photoshops over at The UG.) 

Over the past week or so, the sports world has come down with a serious case of LINsanity, a disease that mimics the effects of Yellow Fever and is brought about by way of bereavement. Though it was the general consensus that this mind altering sickness originated with the uncanny rise of New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin, last night’s inaugural UFC on FUEL event opened our collective eyes to the virus’ true host: Diego fucking Sanchez.

Yes, it seems that ever since Diego suffered his first professional losses, which came in back-to-back fashion at the hands of Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch at UFC 69 and 76, the man has become consumed by a mixture of evangelical optimism and bipolar rage to the point of parody. As he made his way to the octagon for his main event clash with top contender Jake Ellenberger last night, it quickly became apparent that it was Sanchez who was in need of an exorcism, which made the Gregorian monk feel of his entrance appear all the more ironic.

(Between rounds he also drank holy water and said the Rosary.)

I had to check to make sure someone didn’t slip something into my drink when I saw that Diego was trying to perform an exorcism on Jake Ellenberger prior to their UFC on FUEL main event last night.

(Remember, the winner of this fight becomes the #2 contender for the UFC Intercontinental Temporary Welterweight Championship of the Midwest. So you’d better believe that Thiago Alves will be watching this one with great interest. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com. For more photos from this set, click here.)

Tonight, the UFC will air their first-ever live fight card on FUEL TV — or so they say. Like most Americans, I don’t have the channel in my cable package, so I’m pretty much taking them for their word here. Luckily, our new liveblogger/boxing-analyst friend Steve Silverman does get the channel, and he’ll be handling play-by-play for the main card starting at 8 p.m. ET.

On the menu this evening: Balls-to-the-wall welterweight veteran Diego Sanchez will face Jake Ellenberger, who’s riding high off his 53-second knockout of Jake Shields. Plus, Stefan Struve puts his long limbs on a flamboyant high-school acting teacher, Stipe Miocic and Philip De Fries meet in a battle of undefeated heavyweight prospects, and TUF 14 bantamweight finalist TJ Dillashaw returns to action against Walel Watson. Total cost to the consumer: $0.00.

“UFC on FUEL 1: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger” results await you after the jump. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. Thanks for being here, guys.

(Diego Sanchez is like the movie Inception: A dream inside of a nightmare inside two more dreams which are actually nightmares. Photos courtesy of MMAJunkie.com)

All fighters made weight at yesterday’s UFC on FUELTV weigh-ins, which seemed to sail by at a faster pace than normal. Maybe it was the lack of name power, or perhaps it was the absence of the usual drama and near brawls that we have become accustomed to over the past few weeks. In either case, it was a reserved, quiet evening for all participants involved. Except Diego Sanchez. He doesn’t do “reserved.”

Instead, we were treated to what appeared to be a night of MMA fighters mimicking the looks of pseudo-celebrities. Sean Loeffler came out posing as the singer from Crazy Town, making it rain on the audience like they were the 2 a.m. shift at Scores, and Jonathan Brookins stuck with the Geico Caveman look that has gotten him some fine honeys up to this point. But the most bizarre shift in appearance undoubtedly went to Dave Herman, who pulled off Neil Fallon TO PERFECTION.*

(BANG BANG BANG BANG! VAMANOS VAMANOS!)

Join us after the jump for the full weigh in video and results.

(Remind me to ask Diego for a small loan during fight week.)

Love him or hate him, Diego Sanchez is an exciting fighter who brings it each and every time he’s in the cage. What is most polarizing about him is that most fans think that he’s a really strange dude. From his stevia experimentation,”Yes!” mantra, cartwheels and his denial that he may have lost a fight to his recent call-out of his teammate Carlos Condit, it’s an understatement to say that the TUF winner marches to the beat of a different drummer, but that’s part of his appeal.

The fighter formerly known as “The Nightmare” (sorry, I’m not calling him “The Dream”) takes on Jake Ellenberger tonight at UFC on FUEL 1, so we figured we’d take a look back at some of his GIF-worthy moments the past few years.

Check out the other 10 after the jump.

(I guess someone forgot to tell the design team at FUEL that Struve is the taller one.)

Just a friendly reminder that we’ll have the live video stream for the UFC On FUEL: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger weigh-ins for you and your Valentine to watch at 5:00 pm ET tonight. If you’re at home and you’re one of the 17 people who subscribe to FUEL TV, you can watch it on your flat screen.

Will Diego Sanchez spit on Jake Ellenberger’s forehead while he shouts “yes” during the staredown? Will anyone mistake Dave Herman for Macho Man? Will he slam Stefan Struve? Does anyone plan on tuning into the prelims?

These questions and more will be answered after the jump (or in the comment section).

(By the end of his war with Kampmann, Diego Sanchez had suffered a split lip, two slashed-up eyes, and a complete loss of body hair.)

According to reports on MMAJunkie and Heavy, the UFC will be holding an event in Omaha, Nebraska, on February 15th, headlined by a promising welterweight contest between Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger. It will be the UFC’s first broadcast on the cable channel FUEL TV as part of the promotion’s new television deal with FOX Networks.

Sanchez has scored decision wins in his last two fights against Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann, both of which earned him Fight of the Night awards. Though his matchup with Ellenberger was originally rumored to take place at UFC 141 on December 30th, Sanchez needed a little more time to recover from a broken hand, which he sustained shortly before his scheduled UFC 135 meeting with Matt Hughes.

(“What is he doing with his face? Is that supposed to intimidate me?”)

According to a report by MMAMatrix.com, a welterweight match-up between Jake Ellenberger and Diego Sanchez is in the works for UFC 141 December 30 in Las Vegas.

Ellenberger leapfrogged to the front of the line of UFC welterweight contenders with his first-round knockout of Jake Shields at UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger two weeks ago. As such, it’s likely that the winner of the bout, if it happens, will be second in line behind Nick Diaz to face the winner of the UFC 137 showdown between Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit on October 29.

As expected, only a small handful of you were insane enough to suggest that Jake Ellenberger would smoke Jake Shields in 53 seconds. I still can’t believe it myself. (Neither could Shields, for that matter.) But in the end, only two CagePotato fight-pickers predicted the quick TKO stoppage in Shields vs. Ellenberger and Court McGee’s unanimous decision over Dongi Yang, scoring themselves Warrior movie passes and other goodies in the process. They were…

For Jake Ellenberger, the best part about his victory last night has to be his arrival in the UFC’s welterweight division. With a quick, convincing victory over Jake Shields, Ellenberger has set himself up for better opponents, more attention from the fans and the media and the better paydays that accompany those things. The second best part? The 55k Knockout of the Night bonus he picked up in the process, of course.

Submission of the Night honors went to T.J. Waldburger for his first round triangle choke against Mike Stumpf. Initially, Waldburger appeared to have Stumpf caught in an armbar. When Stumpf managed to escape, Waldburger pulled off a textbook transition to a triangle choke. The win gives T.J. Waldburger his 11^th victory by submission.

Our thoughts exactly. Props: MMAMania

Coming into last night’s UFC Fight Night 25, Jake Shields was in a lose-lose situation. He was presented with an opponent, Jake Ellenberger, who was facing his first real step up in competition. A victory over him wouldn’t necessarily propel Shields back to the top of the welterweight division. If Jake Shields lost, well, Jake Shields isn’t going to lose this one so let’s not worry about it. Last night was going to be Jake Shield’s first step towards living up to the hype that surrounded him when he entered the UFC and getting back in the mix for a shot at the welterweight title. There was only one problem: That didn’t happen. In just under one minute, Jake Ellenberger practically ended the Jake Shields era.

This isn’t to say that it’s over for Jake Shields, or that he still can’t work his way back to relevance in the welterweight division. But it’s certainly over for the myth that Jake Shields is still one of the top fighters out there. Last night, Jake Shields couldn’t implement his game plan because Jake Ellenberger was able to stuff his takedown attempts. It wasn’t “What did Shields do wrong”; it was what Ellenberger did right. He was the better fighter, plain and simple. And let’s not entertain the thought of “early stoppage” any more than we had to after hearing Jake Shields imply it last night. When you take a knee directly to the chin, immediately turtle up, and then try to grapple with the referee who pulls your opponent off of you, you have no business saying that the fight was stopped early. If you didn’t think Shields was out when you first watched that fight, watch it again while you still can.

All 53 seconds of Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger, from last night’s UFC Fight Night 25/Battle on the Bayou event. Check it out while it lasts.

(Man, you know Dana’s heart isn’t in this one when he can’t even be bothered to put on a funky t-shirt. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle. For more photos from this album, click here.)

We told you why you should watch, and we told you how we think it’ll go down. At this point, it’s in God’s hands.

Tonight in New Orleans, Jake Shields and Jake Ellenberger will lock horns in a pivotal welterweight contest. Will Shields shows flashes of his old submission-machine self, or will Ellenberger spoil the party in the Big Easy?

Plus: Middleweights Alan Belcher and Jason MacDonald kick off the main card, and Court McGee and Jonathan Brookins take the next steps in their post-TUF careers. Meanwhile on pay-per-view, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is boxing Victor Ortiz, and hell, maybe we’ll give you updates on that one as well.

Live round-by-round updates from the Spike TV broadcast of “UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger” will be piling up after the jump starting at 9 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. Here, we, go.

Pictured: Seth giving Jared a tour of Louisiana.

Ultimate Fight Night 25 goes down tonight in New Orleans, and all that hot sauce and bourbon has whipped us into a fight picking frenzy. Representing the home team will be Louisiana’s own Seth Falvo, who will be doing battle against Head to Head newbie (read: loser) Jared “DangadaDang” Jones. Which Jake will reign supreme? Will it be a good night for The Ultimate Fighter, or a complete disaster? Will the stars of Swamp People get roped into a video interview with Joe Rogan? Find out all this and more, and then tell us what we forgot in the comments section.

Let’s skip the foreplay: Shields or Ellenberger, who ya got?

JJ: As unimpressed as I’ve been with Jake Shields’ UFC career thus far, I just can’t see how Ellenberger wins this one. Though his submission defense looked great, his takedown defense looked pretty exploitable against Carlos Eduardo Rocha, and if Dan Henderson can’t knock out Shields, then it ain’t happening, homie. I got Shields by UD in a match that I forget about quicker than every Saturday Night Live sketch of the past 10 years. The real question is, will the recent loss of Shields’ father have an effect on his game plan?

SF: In any other city, I’d be inclined to agree with you, Jared. But this is New Orleans. A city where the underdog has recently been able to thrive. A city renowned for its Voodoo culture. And, as anyone who has had one too many hand grenades and went home with a dress wearing local they found on Bourbon Street can tell you, a city where not everything is what it seems. Not that that’s ever happened to me or anything.

You’re only as good as your last fight. When we last saw Jake Shields, he was completely unable to take Georges St. Pierre to the ground and didn’t fare better trading punches with the champion until he managed to steal the fifth round. Jake Ellenberger, meanwhile, dominated Sean Pierson in a fight he took on only seventeen days notice. When you add on not only the death of Jake Shield’s father, but also that other distraction Team Cesar Gracie has been dealing with, it’s possible that Jake Shields isn’t as focused as he needs to be. This one has the potential to get interesting. Maybe not “Ellenberger pulls off the upset” interesting, but at least “watchable while sober” interesting.

(McGee vs. Yang, the middleweight showdown that UFC fans have been…wait a minute, remind me again who Yang is?)

Unless you’re one of those Bud Light ‘Battle on the Bayou’ contest winners, you’re probably not overly excited about Saturday’s “Shields vs. Ellenberger” UFC event on Spike. Boxing already has Saturday night locked up, with Floyd Mayweather‘s ring-return against 24-year-old WBC Welterweight champ Victor Ortiz, and it feels like UFC Fight Night 25 will be an overlooked prelude to next week’s Jones vs. Rampage card.

But let’s not admit defeat so soon. We’ll be liveblogging the Shields vs. Ellenberger main card on CagePotato.com starting at 9 p.m. ET, and it would be nice if a few of you showed up to keep us company. Could it be one of those “crap on paper, bonkers in reality” events? Who knows, but consider the following…

All Eyes on Jake: So far, Jake Shields‘s UFC career has consisted of an underwhelming (and razor-thin) split-decision victory over Martin Kampmann, and a rout at the hands of Georges St. Pierre. His dominant stretch of eight-straight stoppage victories in 2006-2009 are a distant memory in the minds of MMA fans, and he needs a dramatic win here, badly. Shields’s dance partner, Jake Ellenberger, has been spent years fighting for recognition, and with four straight Octagon wins over serious competition, he’s starting to get it. Stylistically, the fight might not be a barn-burner, but it could have career-altering implications for the headliners.

Just a quick follow-up to yesterday’s news of Jack Shields’s passing: MMAFighting has confirmed that Jake Shields will still face Jake Ellenberger in the main event of UFC Fight Night 25 (aka “Battle on the Bayou”), which takes place September 17th in New Orleans.

However, the event’s preliminary card has suffered a setback, as DaMarques Johnson and Mackens Semerzier have both withdrawn due to injuries. Johnson has already been replaced by returning TUF 11 vet Seth Baczynski. UFC Fight Night 25′s current lineup is after the jump…

“From this day forward, any [main event] that is signed after right now today will be a five-round fight.” — Dana White, 6/9/11

The main event for UFC Fight Night in New Orleans on September 17 has been verbally agreed to as Jake Shields takes on Jake “The Juggernaut” Ellenberger…”Ellenberger is on a mission to get his first shot at a world title, and Shields is determined to get another crack at it,” said UFC President Dana White. The televised bout is scheduled for three rounds. — UFC.com, 6/29/11

And so, the UFC’s new five-round non-title fight rule is immediately ignored. Considering that Shields’s recent bouts haven’t all been barn-burners, you have to wonder if the UFC’s decision to make this a three-rounder was some calculated hedging against a boring match. After all, nothing kills a good party like 25 minutes of stalling.

“UFC Fight Night: Battle on the Bayou” (aka UFC Fight Night 25) goes down 9/17 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

(Unfortunately, Ellenberger was fined 10% of his purse for drawing a bunch of dicks on Sean Pierson’s face after he was passed out. Photo courtesy of ESPN)

According to a new report from MMAFighting, UFC welterweight contenders Jake Shields and Jake Ellenberger have agreed to face each other this fall (event TBA). Shields is coming off his unsuccessful title bid against Georges St. Pierre in April — which snapped a 15-fight win streak — while the surging Ellenberger has scored wins in his last four Octagon appearances, including knockouts of Mike Pyle, John Howard, and Sean Pierson.

As you may recall, Ellenberger has been openly campaigning for this matchup ever since Shields’s underwhelming UFC debut against Martin Kampmann last October. Following that fight, Ellenberger harnessed his inner Chael Sonnen, tweeting “Jake Shields, you’re as exciting as watching a bowl of mash potatoes get cold…Your days are numbered…Jake Shields’ cardio won’t be a factor if he fights me next. I won’t keep him around long enough to get tired.”

(Does this look like a dude who should be deprived of what he wants? Pic: Sherdog)

As avid readers of our keen, in-depth statistical analysis, we know that you know that we know that Jake Ellenberger is currently riding a four-fight win-streak in the UFC. After going to Toronto and knocking out short-notice opponent Sean Pierson (just like we told you he would) last month Ellenberger remains undefeated since his split decision loss to Carlos Condit in his Octagon debut (a fight he appeared to be on his way to winning before gassing out) way back in September, 2009. Now that he’s home in Nebraska rehabbing the hand he broke on Pierson’s face, Ellenberger is going back to basics, returning to a strategy he adopted some months ago: Trying to trash-talk his way into a fight with Jake Shields.

Except here’s the difference: If not for that original loss to Condit at UFN 19, people might just be talking about a 5-0 (in the UFC) Jake Ellenberger as a potential top candidate to get a welterweight title shot one of these days soon. So now that Ellenberger is soaring and the Shields hype-wagon has been slowed a bit by his do-nothing performance against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 129, maybe this booking wouldn’t seem so crazy. Hmmmm?

(John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson)

Props to IronForgesIron.com. More after the jump…

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Barry vs. Kongo to co-headline UFC on Versus 4 with Marquardt vs. Johnson (5thRound)

- Jake Ellenberger talks Shields vs. St-Pierre; predicts GSP will win via ‘jab and yawn’ (LowKick)

- Can we buy Couture’s post-UFC 129 retirement plans? (Versus MMA Beat)

- Erik Paulson talks about the time he had to hold a gun to a guy’s penis (MiddleEasy)

- Fight! Magazine’s MMA rankings: Melendez moves to #1 (Fight! Magazine)

- Dana White quashes Royce Gracie at UFC Rio rumors (MMA Fighting)

- Brock: ‘I don’t know if you ever get used to taking punches’ (MMA Convert)

- Jon Fitch needs shoulder surgery, will be out 4-6 months (Bleacher Report/MMA)

- Judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii steps away from MMA to focus on competing in the 2016 Olympics for the U.S. (Five Ounces of Pain)

(If only all of Jake Shields fights were sped up and accompanied with Benny Hill theme-like music. Video courtesy of YouTube/JayCosta7)

The UFC announced last night that Jake Ellenberger will step in for Brian Foster against Sean Pierson at UFC 129 later this month in Toronto and that fellow welterweight Diego “The Dream” Sanchez has been added to a four-man grappling tournament at the weekend’s UFC Expo.

(Maybe it’s not too late to learn to hit the 3-wood, Jase. Pic: Some Blog)

Well, this is just about the most pussy thing we’ve ever heard: Sherdog reports this week that UFC B-listers Jason Brilz and Jake Ellenberger are likely out of their jobs as assistant wrestling coaches at University of Nebraska-Omaha, as the university plans to scratch its powerhouse grappling program while making the jump to Division I.

A longtime juggernaut at the NCAA Division II level, UNO reportedly has designs on joining something called the Summit League, a D-I conference that includes such bastions of higher learning as Oral Roberts, Southern Utah and Western Illinois but does not offer wrestling or football. As a result – and despite the fact the Maverick grapplers have won six national titles in the last eight years – the school plans to cut both sports, replacing them with (holy fucking shit) men’s golf and soccer. Are you kidding me? Men’s golf? To make matters worse, Brilz reports UNO brass called longtime wrestling coach Mike Denney to let him know they were axing his whole program the same night the team won its third consecutive national title.

("Fitch in February for a shot at St-Pierre? Nah, I think I’ll wait for GSP clear out the division and move up to middleweight.")

Carlos Condit may have cost himself a huge opportunity.

The UFC welterweight reveals that he turned down a Super Bowl weekend fight with perennial number one contender Jon Fitch at UFC 126. Instead, Fitch will face Jake Ellenberger and the winner of the bout will wait patiently until the end of the year to face the winner of the winner of the Josh Koscheck-Georges St-Pierre UFC 124 showdown and a subsequent Jake Shields match-up in the spring.

Simply put, he’s giving up an opportunity to fight teammate Georges St-Pierre for the belt in late 2011.

Condit told MMAJunkie that the timing wasn’t right for the fight.

"It just didn’t work out as far as timing went," he told MMAjunkie. "I didn’t think I was going to be able to get a long enough camp in for Fitch for the time period that they were wanting me to fight."

(In case you’ve completely forgotten what he looks like, this is Jake Ellenberger.)

Immediately after Jake Shields notched an ugly decision win over Martin Kampmann at UFC 121, welterweight vet Jake Ellenberger logged onto Twitter and started posting short-message bombs directed at the former Strikeforce champ. Highlights included, "Jake Shields, you’re as exciting as watching a bowl of mash potatoes get cold…Your days are numbered" and "Jake Shields’ cardio won’t be a factor if he fights me next. I won’t keep him around long enough to get tired."

(As cheap as it is for Ellenberger to talk smack over Twitter — without even including ‘@jakeshieldsajj‘ in his posts so that Jake will actually see them — we have to commend him for being the first MMA fighter in Twitter history to understand the difference between "you’re" and "your." Okay, nerdy grammar rant over.)

Since Ellenberger is just 2-1 in the UFC with wins over fellow mid-packers Mike Pyle and John Howard, we didn’t think for a second that he’d get Jake Shields pulled from his impending title fight just on the strength of his eDisses. And he didn’t. Instead, Ellenberger got a fight against Jon Fitch.

(The end of Lytle vs. Brown I, 8/11/07. Props: tapskilz)

— You might as well give these guys their Fight of the Night checks right now. MMA Fighting reports that a match between scrappy welterweights Chris "The Bonus Hunter" Lytle and Matt Brown has been added to UFC 116 (July 3rd, Las Vegas). Lytle and Brown have met once before, at a Unified Fight League event in August 2007; "Lights Out" won the fight by second-round guillotine choke. Lytle is now riding back-to-back wins against Kevin Burns and Brian Foster, while Brown is coming off his submission loss to Ricardo Almeida at UFC 111.

— In a matchup of lightweight grappling specialists, George Sotiropoulos and Kurt Pellegrino are also slated to tangle at UFC 116. Since his appearance on TUF 6, Sotriopoulos has built up a perfect 5-0 record in the Octagon, and recently picked up the biggest win of his career by outpointing Joe Stevenson at UFC 110. Pellegrino has also been on a tear lately, taking out four consecutive opponents, including a second-round submission via rear-naked choke over Fabricio Camoes at UFC 111 last month. The winner of this fight becomes a serious player in the 155-pound division. Who ya got?

(Jake Ellenberger, seen here working for his money like a sucker.)

Those among us who aren’t pro fighters might think that Jake Ellenberger got a pretty sweet deal today. Because Ben Saunders volunteered to step in for Thiago Alves against Jon Fitch on late notice, Ellenberger now doesn’t have to do any work on Saturday night, and yet he still gets paid as if he had fought and won. Seems like a clear-cut ‘Nice, Playa‘ situation if we ever saw one.

But according to what he told Cagewriter, Ellenberger is still a little bummed about training for weeks just to end up a spectator in Newark this weekend:

"I was disappointed. Ben Saunders asked for the fight, Dana liked that, so our fight took a backseat. …It took me by complete surprise."

(Ben Saunders: 170 pounds of knees, elbows, and unfortunate facial hair.)

With Thiago Alves out of UFC 111 due to brain irregularities, the UFC has tapped Ben Saunders to take on Jon Fitch just two days before the event. This means that Jake Ellenberger, who was originally scheduled to face Saunders as a replacement for the nauseatingly-wounded Martin Kampmann, is now screwed out of the fight he worked his tail off to prepare for. The upside is, he’s reportedly still getting his show and win money, all for doing nothing more than being cool about the whole thing. Looks like the wings and beers at a Newark-area Hooters are on Ellenberger tonight.

So what does this new match-up mean, aside from more changes to our UFC 111 FightPicker? For Saunders, it means a chance to step up in the ranks with a more high-profile victory. TMZ reports that Dana White has said he’ll give Saunders a title shot if he beats Fitch, which seems like a move that would sure piss off Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley with a quickness. Fitch has less to gain with a win over Saunders than with one over Alves, but at least he can call up his AKA teammate Mike Swick to get some scouting info on the lanky striker.

Kudos to the UFC for making lemonade out of this unfortunate batch of irregular lemons. Guess it helps to have a roster of fighters willing to scramble their plans at the last minute to accommodate your wishes.

(Photo courtesy of twitter.com/martinkampmann)

The poor bastard you see in the picture above is UFC welterweight contender Martin Kampmann, who had to pull out of his UFC 111 fight against Ben Saunders on Tuesday due to a stomach-turning gash over his right eye, which he suffered in training. (Damn, those Xtreme Couture guys need to take it easy with the broken-glass kickboxing matches.) Kampmann hopes to return to the cage in May. Saunders, who’s coming off his first-round knockout of Marcus Davis at UFC 106, will now take on Jake Ellenberger, who’s fresh off his TKO victory over Mike Pyle. In other UFC matchup news…

— According to a report on MMA Weekly, TUF 7 winner/Master Tweeter Amir Sadollah will compete next against undefeated Judo specialist Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 114 (May 29th, Las Vegas). Sadollah is riding back-to-back unanimous decision wins against Phil Baroni and Brad Blackburn; due to injury, Kim hasn’t competed since his decision win over TJ Grant at UFC 100 last July.

(Jake Ellenberger vs. Jose Landi-Jons, 11/3/07. Fight starts at  the 5:52 mark and ends a few seconds later.)

UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard is set to pop off this Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT, directly before the TUF 10 season premiere, and as usual, we’ll be getting some new blood with our old, familiar faces. Only Jake Ellenberger is guaranteed TV time in his broadcast-opening bout against the Natural Born Killer, but if time allows, you may be seeing some other UFC newbies trying to make their mark in the Octagon. Get to know them below…

JAKE ELLENBERGER (WW)
?Experience: 21-4 record (15 wins by stoppage due to strikes), with multiple appearances in the IFL, M-1 Challenge, and Bodog Fight. Most recently knocked out Marcelo Alfaya in 42 seconds, at a Bellator event in June.
Will be facing: Carlos Condit (23-5, 0-1 UFC)
?Lowdown: This 24-year-old Team Quest product has been fighting professionally for over four years, and is stepping in for the injured Chris Lytle against Carlos Condit. Regarded as a well-rounded fighter, Ellenberger is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. As he told UFC.com: “Having been through a Marine Corps boot camp, it makes you tougher mentally. Everything you prepare for in the Marine Corps is for war. We train for the worst case scenarios, and that’s an advantage I think I have mentally in a fight.” Jake employs his twin brother Joe Ellenberger as a wrestling coach and training partner.