Jake 2.0

Just two years ago -- almost to the day -- Jake Ellenberger lost a close split decision to Carlos Condit in his UFC debut. He was a late replacement for an injured Chris Lytle and riding a four-fight win streak in other promotions.

He fought valiantly, but came out on the short end against a former WEC welterweight title-holder who is now the No. 1 contender to Georges St-Pierre's UFC crown. It appeared Ellenberger, 24 at the time, was still in that "up-and-comer" status.

Shortly after that, Jake Shields defeated Jason (Mayhem) Miller to capture Strikeforce's vacant middleweight championship. It was his 13th straight victory and the then-30-year-old would go on to successfully defend his belt against Dan Henderson five months later and with his contract up, he appeared headed to the UFC with another title possibly in his sights.

After Saturday night's main event at UFC Fight Night: Battle on the Bayou, the outlooks for the two Jakes are very different now. And it took only 53 seconds.

Shields, who had never before been knocked out, has looked as clueless in the Octagon as he did on his knees trying to wrestle referee Kevin Mulhall to the mat. He dropped to 1-2 in UFC and some think it should be 0-3 -- many felt his split decision win over Martin Kampmann should have been judged the other way.

His striking continues to leave much to be desired, and he hasn't been able to employ any of the submission game that gave him so much success while collecting belts in other major promotions.

On the other hand, Ellenberger has now won five straight -- with four knockouts. He is more well-rounded, he's swift, and he's vicious. Shields (literally) didn't know what hit him.

And Ellenberger's rise to what now has to be top contention has come just as quickly. I always thought Ellenberger was a talented prospect, but he wasn't on my radar in terms of potential GSP challengers anytime soon. Now he is.

It seems like a no-brainer that Ellenberger fights Jon Fitch next. The two were supposed to meet at UFC 126 before Fitch was pulled to take on B.J. Penn at UFC 127 (which ended in a draw).

Now Penn will fight Nick Diaz and the winner should probably get a title shot. But the winner of Ellenberger-Fitch could very well get the next one. And assuming GSP keeps winning (starting with his fight against Condit next month), that could be his last one before we can say he's truly cleaned out the welterweight division.

At the historic UFC 129 earlier this year, Ellenberger was an injury replacement fighting on the undercard while Shields was the GSP challenger and one some considered one of the best pound-for-pound. Ellenberger made short work of Sean Pierson, while Shields was dominated for five rounds.

And now after Saturday, it seems pretty clear: there's a new Jake at the top.

GOOD STOPPAGE I have a lot of empathy for Shields and give him credit for taking the fight despite the recent death of his father. And good on Shields for not evoking the sympathy card regarding his dad's death as an excuse for the loss.

I also don't want to comment too much on his state of mind. But I don't know what he was thinking suggesting the stoppage was early. He took seven straight punches to the face (blocking just one). Whether Shields might have recovered or not is irrelevant. No referee should be letting that continue.

UNENVIABLE POSITION The Shields stoppage was in contrast to the Jason MacDonald-Alan Belcher fight, in which the Canadian was blocking enough punches that I initially thought should have given him the opportunity to continue. But I didn't realize that MacDonald had verbally submitted. He was being pummelled and he knew he wasn't going to recover.

I would love to see "J-Mac" -- our sportsnet.ca blogger -- compete again, because he has entertained us plenty over the years. But it's possible that's the last we've seen of him in the cage.

IT'S NOT WWE I am not a boxing fan, but I was in particular disgusted by what happened shortly after the UFC Fight Night ended in the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz bout.

First Ortiz nails Mayweather with an intentional headbutt while he's getting pounded. Okay, that was illegal and wrong; but it was in the heat of the moment and he was penalized for it.

Then, after they touched gloves, Mayweather nails Ortiz with a punch when he wasn't expecting it before the referee signals a restart to the action. That was technically legal, but in my opinion, totally unacceptable.

This isn't a rant against boxing, because I've seen the same utter lack of sportsmanship in MMA. But it is so sad that because some fighters seem to think the creed "always defend yourself in a fight" takes precedence over "showing respect for your opponent" that as a result I believe we should get rid of the touching of gloves altogether in combat sports. It's just too risky when you can't be certain your opponent holds the same values as you. And from the majority of the people I follow on Twitter, Mayweather holds very different values than most people.

It only got uglier afterwards. The champion launched a profanity-laced verbal assault on post-fight interviewer Larry Merchant. Eighty-year-old Larry Merchant.

TWEET OF THE NIGHT: @arielhelwani on the Mayweather fiasco: "I guess the only thing to say is, sometimes these things happen in boxing." In case you don't get it, that's in reference to a similar line uttered by then-Strikeforce commentator Gus Johnson following the infamous melee involving Shields, Miller, Gilbert Melendez and the Diaz brothers.

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