Jake Ellenberger on stoppage in loss to Martin Kampmann - "I felt like I could have kept fighting"

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jake Ellenberger's path to a title shot was derailed on Friday night, as he suffered a knockout loss against Martin Kampmann at "The Ultimate Fighter: Live" Finale in Las Vegas. However, it wasn't without a slight bit of controversy, as the fight was stopped fairly quickly when he was knocked down, despite Kampmann getting a lot more time to recover when Ellenberger dropped him in the first round.

Still, while he was certainly not happy with the outcome of the fight, he gave Kampmann credit for his part in how things played out.

"That's up to the ref, that's the ref's discretion," Ellenberger said of the stoppage (via MMAWeekly.com). "That's just the way it goes, but I had him hurt, I thought I had him more hurt than he was, but he's tough. He battled back and stayed in there."

"I'm a little disappointed. I felt like I could have kept fighting or possibly give me a chance to recover, but it is what it is. It's Martin?s night."

Ellenberger admits he was caught by Kampmann, but again credited his veteran opponent for what he was able to do in the fight.

"He did hit me with a good one, kind of rocked me a little bit," Ellenberger said. "[I was] just trying to keep my balance, but he's in this position for a reason. He's a tough guy, I've got a lot of respect for him."

Penick's Analysis: It did seem like a rather quick stoppage considering what happened in the first round, but at the same time he crashed down from the final knee and he may not have been able to recover right away. It's unfortunate for him he didn't get a chance to recover on the ground like Kampmann did in the first, but he also didn't follow up with strikes on the ground in that frame. He'll need to start his climb back up the ladder, but this was certainly not a typical performance for him, and he'll probably get back into the veritable mix sooner rather than later.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_13502.shtml

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