Introduction
UFC Fight Night 25: Battle on the Bayou — officially titled UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger — took place on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Broadcast live on Spike TV, the event drew 7,112 fans for a gate of $685,000 and averaged 1.8 million viewers with a peak of 1.95 million. It was the seventh UFC event ever held in Louisiana and the first since UFC 37 in May 2002 — a nine-year absence.
The card carried significant historical weight: Fight Night 25 was the last UFC Fight Night event broadcast on Spike TV. The two organisations had been partners since 2005, when the original UFC Fight Night 1 inaugurated the weekly series. After this event, the UFC’s relationship with Spike wound down, and UFC Fight Night as a branded series went dormant until the launch of Fox Sports 1 in August 2013. The finale on Spike was marked by one of the most explosive main event finishes in the series’ history: Jake Ellenberger TKO’d Jake Shields in 53 seconds.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, September 17, 2011
📍 Venue: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
👥 Attendance: 7,112
💰 Gate: $685,000
📺 Broadcast: Spike TV — 1.8M average viewers (1.95M peak) — FINAL UFC Fight Night broadcast on Spike
🏆 Main Event: Jake Ellenberger vs. Jake Shields — Welterweight
✅ Result: Ellenberger def. Shields via TKO (knee and punches) — R1, 0:53
The Build-Up
Jake Shields had fought at the highest level of the welterweight division for several years. A former Strikeforce welterweight champion and a career-defining 18-fight winning streak, he had earned a UFC welterweight title shot against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 129 in April 2011, losing by unanimous decision. Shields returned to New Orleans with significant name value and a Top 5 welterweight ranking. Jake Ellenberger was the rising force — a hard-hitting Nebraskan wrestler who had won four of his last five UFC bouts and was looking to break into the division’s elite.
The sub-headline story was Alan Belcher’s return. Belcher had not fought since May 2010 after suffering a serious eye injury during training in Brazil that required emergency surgery — the same injury that had disrupted the original UFC Fight Night 22 booking that was meant to be Maia vs. Belcher. Sixteen months away from the cage, returning in his home region of the Gulf Coast, Belcher’s comeback against Jason MacDonald was one of the most anticipated side storylines on the card.
Main Event: Ellenberger vs. Shields
The fight lasted 53 seconds. Ellenberger landed a knee to the body that buckled Shields, then immediately followed with punches on the ground before the referee waved it off. The sequence was precise, violent, and brief — among the more emphatic main event finishes in the Fight Night series’ entire Spike TV run. Shields had no answer for Ellenberger’s power transition: the wrestling had been expected, the finishing instinct was decisive. Ellenberger earned Knockout of the Night.
The win propelled Ellenberger into title contention conversations. He would go on to fight Carlos Condit for the interim UFC welterweight title at UFC 154 in November 2012, losing by unanimous decision in one of the most competitive title fights of that year.
Full Results
Main Card (Spike TV)
Jake Ellenberger def. Jake Shields — TKO (knee and punches) — R1, 0:53 — Welterweight (Knockout of the Night)
Court McGee def. Dongi Yang — Unanimous Decision — Middleweight
Alan Belcher def. Jason MacDonald — Middleweight (Belcher’s comeback after 16-month absence; eye surgery recovery)
Erik Koch def. Jonathan Brookins — Featherweight
Preliminary Card
Matt Riddle vs. Lance Benoist — Welterweight (Fight of the Night; $30,000 each)
TJ Waldburger — Welterweight (Submission of the Night; $30,000)
Robbie Peralta def. Mike Lullo — Featherweight (replaced Mackens Semerzier)
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Matt Riddle vs. Lance Benoist — $30,000 each
🥇 Knockout of the Night: Jake Ellenberger — $30,000 for the R1 TKO of Shields
🥇 Submission of the Night: TJ Waldburger — $30,000
Records & Milestones
• Final UFC Fight Night broadcast on Spike TV — ending the original series that launched with Fight Night 1 in August 2005.
• First UFC event in Louisiana since UFC 37 in May 2002 — a nine-year gap.
• Jake Ellenberger’s 53-second TKO of Shields remains one of the fastest main event finishes in Fight Night history.
Legacy & Impact
The Spike TV run of UFC Fight Night lasted from August 2005 to September 2011 — 25 events across six years. It introduced the world to Anderson Silva, Frankie Edgar, Carlos Condit, Jim Miller, Roy Nelson, Rory MacDonald, Chan Sung Jung, and dozens of other fighters who became UFC stars. The partnership with Spike had been central to the UFC’s mainstream breakthrough; the network’s male-demographic audience and its willingness to broadcast three-hour events on short notice gave the UFC a consistent free-television presence that PPV alone could not have provided. Fight Night 25 was a fitting send-off — a fast finish, a near-two-million viewer audience, and a card that delivered.
FAQ
Why was Fight Night 25 the last UFC Fight Night on Spike TV?
The UFC and Spike TV’s relationship had been winding down since the UFC signed a major multi-year deal with Fox in August 2011 — just weeks before Fight Night 25 aired. The Fox deal, which ran from 2011 to 2018, included rights for UFC on Fox (network TV), UFC on FX, and UFC on Fuel TV. As part of the transition, the UFC’s free-television events migrated from Spike to Fox properties. The Fight Night branded series specifically went dormant for nearly two years before relaunching on Fox Sports 1 in August 2013.
How significant was Ellenberger’s 53-second KO of Shields?
Very significant. Shields had just fought for the UFC welterweight title four months earlier and was a top-five welterweight. Finishing a former title challenger in under a minute was a major statement. The knee-and-punches combination — body shot knee buckle followed by ground and pound — showcased the full range of Ellenberger’s finishing toolkit. The win placed him in immediate title contention and confirmed that the welterweight division’s top tier had a new dangerous member.
What happened to Alan Belcher after his return at Fight Night 25?
Belcher’s comeback win over MacDonald kicked off a three-fight win streak that included a Fight of the Night victory over Court McGee and a KO of Michael Bisping at UFC on Fox 7 in April 2013. He became a top-ten UFC middleweight contender before a string of injuries effectively ended his title contention run. The comeback arc from the eye surgery to the Bisping KO is one of the more compelling recovery stories in the UFC middleweight division’s history.
What was the Spike TV UFC Fight Night era’s overall significance?
The 25-event Spike TV Fight Night run from 2005 to 2011 was the proving ground for the UFC’s free-television strategy. It introduced Anderson Silva’s UFC debut (Fight Night 5), the first Carlos Condit UFC fight (Fight Night 18), Rory MacDonald’s debut at 19 (Fight Night 20), Chan Sung Jung’s arrival (Fight Night 24), and dozens of other pivotal career moments. Viewership grew from under a million in 2005 to near two million by 2011. The series demonstrated that free-television MMA could sustain audience growth over multi-year periods — a proof of concept that underpinned the Fox deal and the subsequent Fox Sports 1 era.
Why was New Orleans a meaningful location for this final Spike event?
New Orleans is one of America’s most distinctive sports-culture cities, associated with intense partisanship, celebration, and a longstanding entertainment identity. The UFC had not returned since UFC 37 in 2002 — a gap that reflected the organisation’s regulatory struggles through the mid-2000s and its focus on larger markets during the Spike era. Returning to New Orleans for the Spike finale with a sold-out crowd and a 1.95 million peak audience was a full-circle moment for a series that had grown from an experimental product to a mainstream staple.
What happened to Erik Koch after his win on this card?
Erik Koch’s win over TUF 12 winner Jonathan Brookins continued a run that made him a legitimate UFC featherweight contender by late 2011. He earned a UFC featherweight title shot against Jose Aldo at UFC 155 in December 2012 but was forced to withdraw injured, and the bout was cancelled. Aldo then fought Frankie Edgar instead. Koch’s title shot never materialised in its original form, and subsequent injuries disrupted his career trajectory. At Fight Night 25, he looked every bit a future champion in waiting — but the path never cleared.