There’s a welterweight brouhaha cooking between 170-pound veterans Jake Ellenberger (21-5) and Mike Pyle (19-6-1) for the upcoming UFC 108 card from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 2, MMAmania.com can confirm.
Ellenberger is a dangerous striker who got people talking after shutting off the switch on Marcelo Alfaya at Bellator Fighting Championships 9 back on June 12.
The former middleweight made his Octagon debut against the crafty Carlos Condit at UFC Fight Night 19 just last month. The Elite Performance product was pouring it on in the opening round, but “The Natural Born Killer” hung on and survived, squeaking out a split decision victory.
That loss interrupted a four fight winning streak that saw Ellenberger take eight out of ten bouts with five (T)KO stoppages.
Like Ellenberger, Pyle didn’t exactly have it easy in his UFC debut. “Quicksand” was knee deep in submissions trying to overcome the offense of top WEC prospect Brock Larson when he debuted at UFC 98: “Evans vs. Machida.”
Despite getting choked out, Pyle quickly rebounded and did some choking of his own, sending Chris Wilson packing in the third round of their bout at UFC Fight Night 19.
Expect an entertaining and highly competitive scrap between these two.
UFC 108 is expected to feature a main event between 185-pound division deity Anderson “The Spider” Silva defending his division title against former light heavyweight champion Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort. Another former 205-pound champion, Rashad Evans, will also likely return to action against another Brazilian, Thiago Silva, in the co-featured fight of the night.
How the recent dissolution of the UFC 106 main event between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin — now rumored to be heading for Jan. 2 — affects this tentative line up, remains to be seen.
In the meantime, check out the latest UFC 108 fight card and rumors click here.
