Saturday night marked the end of the MMA career of Jake Ellenberger.
A former United States Marine who shined for the University of Nebraska-Kearney on the wrestling mats, announced his retirement following a fourth consecutive loss inside the Octagon.
Ellenberger was finished by Bryan Barberena in one of the featured bout at UFC Fight Night 135 in his home-state of Nebraska.
After 46 professional fights, with 31 of those resulting in victory, Ellenberger decided enough was enough. As someone who always let his skills do the talking, “The Juggernaut” was simple with his retirement speech.
“It is what it is,” he said on FOX Sports 1 during a post-fight interview. “I gotta say, there’s no better place to set the gloves down and call it a career than here in Nebraska.”
And with that, Ellenberger left the Octagon with his head held high.
Back in 2016, Ellenberger finished Matt Brown with a nasty body kick. He also choked out Josh Koscheck, KO’ed Nate Marquardt and put together a six-fight win streak between 2010-12 that includes wins over Diego Sanchez, Jake Shields and John Howard.
Barberena was respectful of his opponent, saying “I respect the hell out of this guy and his brother (Joe) and all of them. They’ve done so much for the sport.”