Jake Ellenberger is hoping that his scheduled fight with former MMA Strikeforce champion, Tarec Saffiedine, will finally push through this time around.
Ellenberger, who has a record of 30-10 MMA and 9-6 UFC, was supposed to go against Saffiedine, who is holding a record of 15-4 MMA and 1-1 UFC, and was booked twice already. For some reason, each time the fight is getting near one of them gets injured. After getting the fight postponed twice, the UFC is now giving them one more chance to go against each other this coming January 30th. The event will be held in Newark, New Jersey.
During a recent interview, Ellenberger revealed that he believes he and Saffiedine have significantly improved during the past year. Both fighters were supposed to fight during UFC 172 back in April 2014.
Now that they are scheduled again to meet inside the octagon, Ellenberger admitted that he’s not really stressing out about the idea of having the fight cancelled again for the third time.
“I’ve had to simplify a lot of things. One of the problems I’ve run into in the past is having too many people in my ear – too much advice. It creates distractions. So I’ve really been able to cut a lot of nonsense out of my training. The fewer people I work with, the better. It’s been more organized and more structured for me. I’m sure he’s grown, too. But we were scheduled twice, and this is the third time, so I’m sure it will happen. I’m sure we’ve both evolved,” Ellenberger said during a recent interview with MMAjunkie.
After participating in a short training with former bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey’s crew, Glendale Fighting Club, Ellenberger has returned to his crew in California. Ellenberger has faced four losses out his five fights in the past so he was trying to look for the cause why he is failing once he steps inside the octagon.
Now, it’s just a matter of letting things fall into place once he starts to throw hits.
“This is such a unique spor. I’ve been really able to expose some weaknesses I’ve had in the past. When you’re training for a fight, you really neglect things like muscle imbalances. For me, it’s been great to really strengthen some areas I’ve really ignored the last few years,” he said.
Ellenberger admitted that there was no awkwardness when he want back to his team after being temporarily absent. He further revealed that Rafael Cordeiro, who is Kings MMA coach, is really amazing to work with.
“I’ve been working with Rafael Cordeiro and it’s been great. I’ve always had a great relationship with Rafael Cordeiro – an amazing coach. We sat down and had a few conversations. There was never any animosity or falling out, I would say when I chose to work with other people. But he’s got a big heart and he loves to help people,” Ellenberger said.
Let’s hope that Cordeiro will be amazing enough to help Ellenberger win the upcoming fight against Saffiedine.
