Jonah Ellis submitted Sam Khan with a triangle choke just over a minute into the first round to capture the title in Lethbridge.<\/p>\n
LETHBRIDGE \u2014 Jonah Ellis doesn\u2019t believe there was anything \u201cspecial\u201d about him when he first walked into a martial arts gym five years ago.<\/p>\n
He just kept showing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just show up every day, and I dedicate a little bit of time to making sure that I\u2019m just going to get that one per cent better each day,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n
On Saturday (Oct. 3), that persistence put a championship belt around the Banff fighter\u2019s waist after Ellis submitted Sam Khan with a triangle choke in the first round of their Rumble in the Cage title bout in Lethbridge.<\/p>\n
Five fights into his amateur MMA career, Ellis says those small improvements are beginning to show.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you don\u2019t see the results on the day, or quickly, but over time,\u201d he said. \u201cThis last year and a half, five fights, two losses, three wins \u2026 and this is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the fight, the 22-year-old promised to \u201cmake it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he did.<\/p>\n
Now, with championship gold around his waist, Ellis says the reality of becoming a champion is only beginning to sink in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got the job done, and I\u2019m the champion now,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n
The victory capped a whirlwind year and a half for Ellis, who has bounced from one training camp to the next with little time off in between.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis last year and a half has been crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cFive fights, so it\u2019s basically camp after camp after camp after camp with little bits of time to chill in between.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellis didn\u2019t need much time to make good on his prediction Saturday.<\/p>\n
Fighting for the 155-pound lightweight title, Ellis entered the cage confident despite having his opponent changed about two weeks before the fight.<\/p>\n
When the bell rang, Ellis expected Khan to touch gloves. Instead, Khan came out throwing jabs and pushed the Banff fighter toward the cage.<\/p>\n
Ellis went to his instincts, securing a takedown and immediately putting his grappling to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan was to cut the distance, put my hands on him a little bit, but ultimately take it to the floor, where I know that I\u2019m just levels ahead of the guy,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n
Ellis first attacked with a guillotine choke, but when Khan began slipping free, he transitioned to a triangle choke \u2013 one of his strongest submissions and a technique he had repeatedly worked on throughout training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as I felt the triangle go up, I was like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s over. It\u2019s over,\u2019\u201d said Ellis. \u201cI look up at the ref, and I\u2019m like, \u2018He\u2019s going to go to sleep.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to call my shots in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan tapped just over a minute into the opening round.<\/p>\n
Once the fight was stopped, Ellis climbed the cage in celebration. Amid the noise inside the arena, there was one sound he immediately recognized.<\/p>\n
His father\u2019s whistle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could hear him whistling, and I saw my whole Dark Horse crew,\u201d said Ellis. \u201cI gave them a couple of screams and was patting my chest and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellis said seeing his corner and family brought out a rush of emotions. But the championship carried added meaning because of his grandfather who couldn\u2019t be there to see it.<\/p>\n
His grandfather died in August, in the middle of Ellis\u2019 training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a big, pivotal part, always supporting me and everything that I was doing,\u201d said Ellis. \u201cHe was a really good person in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellis said it made for a difficult training camp, but before his grandfather died, he made him a promise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last words that I was saying to him was that \u2018I was going to get it done, and I was going to make sure that I bring that belt home,\u2019\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n
His grandfather, Ellis said, was a pastor at a Banff church for about 40 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made sure that he knew on Saturday night that it was for him,\u201d said Ellis. \u201cI was happy to get it done and honour my family, for sure. I want to carry my family\u2019s name far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellis\u2019 first title win improved his amateur record to 3-2 and marked his second consecutive first-round submission.<\/p>\n
After a unanimous decision loss to Kol Dunbar in February, Ellis returned to the cage in April and submitted Seth Levandosky in the opening round. His victory over Khan continued that momentum and improved his\u00a0Rumble in the Cage record to 3-0.<\/p>\n
With his first championship secured, Ellis is already looking toward what comes next.<\/p>\n
The Banff fighter says he intends to remain an active champion with Rumble in the Cage and defend his title when the opportunity comes. He also plans on continuing to compete elsewhere as he builds toward an eventual professional career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI promise to be an active champion, fight, defend my belt,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n
But defending the title may not be his only championship pursuit.<\/p>\n
Ellis says he might drop down a weight class and chase another title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think pretty soon here, we\u2019re going to be planning on maybe moving down a weight class just to see if we can take a strap at another weight class,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n
And if everything goes according to plan, Ellis already knows how he wants to carry them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the plan. Like McGregor \u2026 one on one shoulder, one on the other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonah Ellis submitted Sam Khan with a triangle choke just over a minute into the first round to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-921077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}