Ellenberger: Shields Not Hard to Figure Out

Jake Ellenberger (above) has his eye on Jake Shields. | Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Now he’s recovering and looking for another fight.

“I had an operation about two days after the fight,” said Ellenberger, who suffered a clean break of his fourth metacarpal, during a recent “Savage Dog Show” interview. “It’s healing great. I have full mobility. I just can’t really lift or spar or nothing like that yet, but it’s healing great.”

Ellenberger has his eye on fellow UFC 129 competitor Jake Shields. Shields lost a unanimous decision to Georges St. Pierre in the main event, but Ellenberger hasn’t seen the bout yet.

“Will I watch it? Probably,” he said. “But I bet it’s going to go exactly the way that I thought. If they do make that match and me and Jake get to fight, he’s not a hard guy to figure out. I feel like I can beat him right now.”

Ellenberger has won four straight in the UFC. After years of wins in smaller shows and earning a reputation as a good fighter, he’s now become a serious contender. He credits an increased sense of focus and discipline.

“There’s no such thing as a part-time fighter,” Ellenberger said. “There’s a lot of things in the past that I wasn’t doing correctly. It was kind of a learning process for me. This sport still being so new, earlier in my career I loved to compete and I was making a little bit of money, but I don’t think I was as focused and disciplined as I am now. … I’ve surrounded myself with such good people. Good coaching and training partners, guys that really believe in me.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 54:00).