Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a mixed martial arts promotion company. It is the largest in the world and features most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport. Based in the United States, the UFC produces events worldwide that showcase ten weight divisions and abide by the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. The UFC has held over 300 events to date. Dana White serves as the president of the UFC while brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta control the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, LLC.

The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event was held on November 12, 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship competitions were to identify the most effective martial art in a fight, with minimal rules, between competitors of different fighting disciplines, including boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Sambo, wrestling, Muay Thai, karate, judo, and other styles. In subsequent competitions, fighters began adopting effective techniques from more than one discipline, which indirectly helped create an entirely separate style of fighting known as present-day mixed martial arts.

Frankie Edgar

Frank James "Frankie" Edgar (born October 16, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist who competes as a featherweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is a former UFC Lightweight Champion. He holds notable victories over former world champions Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn (x3), Urijah Faber and top featherweight contender Chad Mendes. As of December 21, 2015, Edgar is ranked as the #2 featherweight in official UFC rankings.

Early life

Born and raised in Toms River, New Jersey by Frank and Mary Annese, Frankie Edgar wrestled at Toms River High School East, making it to the New Jersey state championship tournament on three occasions, placing second as a junior and fifth as a senior. Edgar is the oldest of 3 children, Edgar went on to compete in the NHSCA Senior Nationals and placed second before he finished high school. He continued wrestling at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, where he qualified for the nationals all four years there. Edgar is also an assistant coach for the Rutgers University wrestling team. Frankie is mostly of Italian descent with his mother being Italian, and he also has some German ancestry from his biological father's side, which is reflected in his non-Italian surname.

Jake Ellenberger

Jacob Steven "Jake" Ellenberger (born March 28, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist and former United States Marine. Ellenberger is currently signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, fighting in the Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 2005, Ellenberger has also formerly competed for the Quad Cities Silverbacks of the IFL, Bodog Fight, and King of the Cage.

Background

Jake Ellenberger was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Jake's father was an iron worker, and he [Jake Ellenberger] has a twin brother named Joe who is also an MMA fighter. After starting his career with a 10-0 record, Joe was diagnosed with an extremely rare blood disease called Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria when he was 24 years old. Some estimates suggest that roughly half of the people diagnosed with PNH die within 10 years of their diagnosis. Joe still corners his brother's fights and is a huge inspiration for Jake. Both Jake and Joe were very athletic growing up; Jake was on the swimming and diving team in high school while Joe wrestled and played football. By the time Joe was in his senior year, he had won a Nebraska state title. He went on to wrestle at the University of Nebraska-Kearney and became a two-time Division II All-American, finishing third in the country twice and was a three-time academic All-American. Jake began training for MMA when he saw his friend fight for the welterweight title in the Victory Fighting Championships. He studied psychology at the University of Nebraska-Omaha for three years and was on the school's Division II wrestling team. Following the end of his own wrestling career and acting as assistant coach, Jake helped his alma mater to win back to back National titles. Jake Ellenberger is also a former Marine.