Ellenberger's brotherly bond

A midweek card in the Midwest with no titles on the line isn't going to rock the mixed martial arts world, but try telling that to the people who live in Omaha, Neb. Seeing local product Jake Ellenberger in the main event against Diego Sanchez Wednesday night will be nothing short of front-page news.

This is one of those examples of something happening in a small part of the world that is considered a really big deal.

It's so important the mayor of Omaha gave Jake the key to the city earlier this week. That might be a first for an MMA fighter, but it speaks to the rise of the UFC, concurrent with Ellenberger's climb up the welterweight ladder.

The card, which will be shown on FUEL TV in the United States and carried by Sportsnet in Canada, will take place at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, which can fit roughly 9,300 for sporting events. Some 500-600 friends and family members of Ellenberger will be in attendance.

Watch UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger on Sportsnet East and Ontario starting at 8 p.m. ET (tape-delayed on other regional channels).

To suggest Sanchez is facing a hostile crowd would be an understatement. Combined with the fact the bookies have Ellenberger heavily favoured, the odds don't look too good for Sanchez.

"It's definitely an extreme honour and a privilege, not only to represent the Midwest but to headline a UFC event," Jake told sportsnet.ca on Tuesday in a phone interview from Omaha.

The UFC last had a card in Omaha in September of 2008 at the same venue. It was headlined with a lightweight bout between Nate Diaz and Josh Neer. It was also a time when Jake Ellenberger was fighting on independent circuits with a record of 17-4. He has a record of 9-1 since then and an overall UFC record of 5-1.

Since losing his UFC debut to Carlos Condit in September 2009, he has rattled off five wins, including a stunning win over Jake Shields last September at a UFC event in New Orleans. The bout was dubbed the Battle of the Jakes and it had the makings of a something good because Shields, a previous title-holder in Strikeforce and EliteXC, went five rounds in his just his second UFC fight against welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 129 in Toronto in April.

He lost by unanimous decision to St-Pierre, but then lasted only 53 seconds against Ellenberger, who dropped him to the canvas with a combination left knee to the midsection and a right knee to the jaw, and then finished him off with a flurry of punches that caused the referee to stop the contest. It earned Ellenberger knockout of the night honours.

While Shields was fighting with a heavy heart following the death of his father three weeks before, Ellenberger couldn't be shortchanged for what he had done. It was a pivotal fight in his career and he rose to the challenge.

It also set up the card in his hometown, and was the beginning of what may have been an even bigger story. Less than a month later, Joe, his twin brother who is older by one minute and fighting in the lightweight division on the independent Victory Fighting Championship circuit, took a streak of 12 wins into a fight against Justin Salas. The victor was likely going to earn a contract in the UFC, but this time an Ellenberger didn't win. Salas won by unanimous decision in the five-round, main-event bout.

Jake said it is tough to put into words what his brother's loss meant to him. It could have been a huge win for a fighter battling in the minors of MMA, a path that Jake followed, but his brother had dealt with devastation before and might have been lucky just to be fighting against Salas.

Back in October 2009, Joe had a win streak of 10 and the UFC was calling with a fight opportunity. It coincided with a sudden turn in his health that left him sluggish and sleepy. It would be diagnosed as a bone marrow disease called paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria that produces cells that lack a protein causing the body to react like it would be fighting off bacteria. It is a disease with a life expectancy of only five to 10 years, and potentially could have deprived Joe of doing the very thing that he loved.

As MMAweekly.com reported at the time, a doctor specializing in that field of blood disorders prescribed a treatment that cost $400,000 a year but could be covered by insurance and private funding. It required blood infusions every 14 days. He began the treatment in March 2010.

Almost two years following his last fight -- and after his life and career were torn in two different directions -- Joe returned to the cage and won his first fight via submission. Two months later he won again. Then he lost the most important fight of his career.

With a win, the whole Ellenberger storyline going into Wednesday night would have been one of those fairytale kinds of things. Salas earned a contract with the UFC and will make his debut in the company on Wednesday's undercard against Anton Kuivanen, but it is merely a footnote on this fight card. Imagine how big the card in Omaha would have been if Joe had won and it was instead him fighting on the undercard.

However, his brother's loss served a purpose for Jake.

"Watching his last fight has really motivated me," Jake said. "I'll be going in with a lot of emotion in my head. That's why I want to win. You get angry, you get frustrated, and I want to go out there and do my job and finish (Sanchez)."

With a win, Ellenberger has a chance to improve his stock and possibly earn a future bout with interim title-holder Carlos Condit. They fought in 2009 in Jake's debut in the UFC in a fight that ended in a split decision that went Condit's way. Condit had made his UFC debut in his previous fight, losing a split decision to Martin Kampmann, which ended a win streak of eight. Following his win over Jake, Condit has won four in a row, including his recent match against Nick Diaz for the interim welterweight title.

So Jake will be hoping to win to move into a position to possibly fight Condit again. With the way the welterweight division has been shifting because of a variety of reasons, anything is possible.

Whatever personal hopes and dreams he has for his own career, Jake can only hope Joe gets another chance to earn a promotion to the UFC. Joe fights again on March 2 against Jesse Zeugin (7-2-0) on the undercard of TFC 21 in Kansas City. With the UFC constantly looking to upgrade its roster and with Salas earning a contract, you'd have to think Joe would be in consideration for a contract if he wins. It would be a great feel-good story for so many different reasons.

On Wednesday, Joe will be in Jake's corner, as he regularly is, rooting for his brother. Jake is indebted to him for being the guiding light in his career and his life.

"If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be in this sport," he said. "He saw potential in me that I never saw. What he's been through, the way he deals with adversity, he's pushing me to be a better competitor. There's a lot of different ways that he inspires me. I was never into any competitive sports while my brother was wrestling. He's the one that got me into mixed martial arts. He was a fan of it before I even knew what it was."

They train together and provide support for one another -- twins born a minute apart, but never really separated.

Perry Lefko keeps you connected to all the news in the CFL on sportsnet.ca. He is also a regular contributor on other sports, including the UFC.