Joe Ellenberger has both short- and long-term goals.
Following an October loss to eventual UFC signee Justin Salas in an October Victory Fighting Championship title fight – the first defeat of his career – Ellenberger's short-term goal is simple: get back in the win column this weekend at Titan Fighting Championships 21.
A victory, of course, could get him to his long-term goal: joining twin brother Jake in the UFC.
The quest begins on Friday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., where Ellenberger (12-1) takes on fellow lightweight Jesse Zeugin (7-2) in an HDNet-televised main-card bout.
It's his first fight since the grueling five-round decision loss to Salas, who parlayed the victory into a UFC contract. In his promotional debut earlier this month, Salas scored a decision victory over Anton Kuivanen at UFC on FUEL TV 1, a card coincidentally headlined by Joe's brother.
In fact, Jake scored a unanimous-decision victory over Diego Sanchez at the Feb. 15 event, and he's now considered a top challenger to champ Georges St-Pierre's and interim titleholder Carlos Condit's belts. Of course, had things panned out for the other Ellenberger a few years ago, it could be Joe surging up the UFC ranks.
"Quite a while ago, the UFC was going to have me fill in (at a December 2009 UFC event), but it fell through," he told MMAjunkie.com Radio (
MMAjunkie.com Radio | MMAjunkie.com). "Since then, of course, I've gotten a lot of publicity with my brother doing so well."
Jake had actually made his UFC debut just four months prior. Since then, he's racked up a 6-1 record and six consecutive victories.
So getting another shot at a UFC debut is undoubtedly one of Joe's goal. But it's one of a few for Ellenberger, who won his first 12 fights (10 via stoppage) after his 2005 pro debut.
"It's a lot of short-term goals leading up to the longer ones," he said. "It's getting back on the winning track with Titan and pushing my brother to become a world champion by the end of the year. And it's breaking into the UFC for myself and putting us on the map. Or, more on the map, I should say.
"It'll work itself out. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing – to train hard, take fights, hopefully win fights, and putting on good performances. That's what it's all about."
A fellow Midwesterner, Zeugin is on a 7-1 run with six submission victories. And like Salas, he could play the spoiler role for Ellenberg's goals. But with the help of his brother and an easier cut to 155 pounds, he think it's his time to shine.
"It's always good to be able to schedule something close in time (to each other)," he said of his dual camps with Jake. "We can really push each other in training. We really do it anyway, but a lot of times, if we don't have something coming up, we don't see that light at the end of the tunnel. It kind of burns you out a little bit.
"But since we both had something coming up, we push it even harder to the max. ... Now it's time to get a win and achieve my goals."
