The UFC continues with its rapid fire events as the UFC on Fuel TV is set to take place on Wednesday February 15.  The Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska will host the rare mid-week event.  The card is headlined by a welterweight clash with title implications as former lightweight title challenger Diego Sanchez takes on rising contender Jake Ellenberger.  The main card is loaded with young UFC veterans looking to ramp up their status in their respective weight classes.  The main card will be broadcast live on Fuel TV beginning at 8:00PM eastern time.  The preliminary card will be streamed live at Facebook.com with an advertised start time of 5:20PM eastern.
In addition to the welterweight main event, the main card will feature middleweight and bantamweight bouts along with a pair of heavyweight confrontations.  Let’s look at the participants in the main event between Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger.  The winner will be in the UFC Welterweight title conversation and our prediction on which that fighter will be is included below.

MAIN EVENT (Fuel TV)

Jake “The Juggernaut” Ellenberger (26-5) vs. Diego Sanchez (23-4):
Ellenberger burst into UFC welterweight prominence with a 53 second knockout of former Strikeforce Middleweight champion Jake Shields at UFC Fight Night 25 in September. It was the fifth straight win for Ellenberger since a narrow split decision loss to Carlos Condit in his UFC debut in September 2009.  Ellenberger is a strong wrestler with serious knockout power as evidenced by his 17 career knockouts.  The Bellator and IFL veteran has won nine of his last ten with six of those wins by knockout.  Sanchez was the first winner on season one of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005.  This will be the 17^th UFC appearance for Sanchez, who made an unsuccessful UFC Lightweight title challenge against BJ Penn at UFC 107 in December 2009.  Sanchez has won two straight including a fight of the year candidate unanimous decision win against Martin Kampmann at UFC Live 3 last March. 
This intriguing clash will have an impact on the future title contenders in the UFC Welterweight division.  The winner will join Johny Hendricks as a top challenger for one of the current title holders, Carlos Condit or Georges St. Pierre.  Ellenberger will bring serious knockout power but he will have to contend with the relentless pace set forth by Sanchez.  Ellenberger has faced some solid competition throughout his career but his recent bouts have come against excellent fighters that perform at a tactical and deliberate pace.  Those fighters gave Ellenberger the opportunity to set up and land his heavy shots.  Sanchez brings a ridiculous pace and his non-stop motion will make it difficult for Ellenberger to settle into a rhythm.  Both fighters have tremendous cardio so the pace should remain fast throughout the bout, especially since it is a three round fight.  Ellenberger will have the wrestling chops to make the Sanchez takedown attempts a difficult task.  It will be a tough close fight but look for Sanchez to control the pace and score enough takedowns while avoiding the heavy leather from Ellenberger.  That formula will lead to a Sanchez unanimous decision win.

Sanchez over Ellenberger by unanimous decision.

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