Rogers Faces Allee In Donofrio IFL 45

Local Michigan MMA fighters will take center stage on Saturday night in Donofrio Entertainment’s Impact Fight League 45: My Bloody Valentine, including the main event between heavyweights Todd Allee and Brett “The Grim” Rogers.  The 38-year-old Allee is a native of Dearborn Heights and took the fight on short notice after Rogers’ original opponent Jeff Kugel had to withdraw.

Action will get underway starting at 7:00 p.m. (ET) from The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Rogers (11-4) has dropped four of his last five fights following a 10-0 start to his career, with three of the losses coming at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko (TKO), Alistair Overeem (TKO) and Josh Barnett (submission) in Strikeforce bouts.  The other loss came via a three-round split decision against Eddie Sanchez in the Titan Fighting Championships 20 on September 23.

His opponent Allee (2-1, 1 No-Contest) lacks experience, fighting just once in the past five years and spending his time as co-owner and strength and conditioning instructor at Mash Gym in Redford.  He is very motivated for this opportunity despite being a heavy underdog, and believes a win over Rogers would transform him into a “superhero” in front of his local fans.

Other IFL title bouts are also expected to be part of the card put together by Michigan fight promoter Joseph Donofrio.  Another local product scheduled to participate is Michigan’s Adam Kelso (4-2), who broke his hand while scoring an 11-second knockout of Joshua Taibl in the second round of their welterweight fight during last year’s event.  Kelso has not fought since then.

On Wednesday, the first UFC on Fuel TV event saw Jake Ellenberger (27-5) earn a tough unanimous decision victory against Diego Sanchez (23-5) in a battle of welterweight contenders.  Ellenberger won 29-28 on all three score cards in a very close bout that earned each of the participants $50,000 Fight of the Night bonuses.  Sanchez, who was one of two winners in the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter, has won Fight of the Night bonuses the last three times he has entered the Octagon but saw his two-bout winning streak snapped.

There were eight other fights on the card from the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska, including two featuring other former contestants from The Ultimate Fighter who fared well.  TUF 14 finalist T.J. Dillashaw (5-1) won a unanimous decision against Walel Watson (9-4) at bantamweight to bounce back from the only loss of his professional career against John Dodson in the finale.  TUF 12 winner Jonathan Brookins (13-4) also knocked out Vagnar Rocha (7-3) in the first round of their featherweight matchup.

Other winners on the main card included heavyweights Stefan Struve (23-5) and Stipe Miovic (8-0), middleweight Ronny Markes (13-1) and bantamweight Ivan Mejivar (24-8).  Miovic won Knockout of the Night honors after disposing of Phil De Fries at 43 seconds of the first round.