l to block with his feet.Italy went closest in the 25th as Ciro Immobile beat the offside trap to run onto Daniele De Rossis ch

SEATTLE - Jake (The Juggernaut) Ellenberger remembers training at Pat Miletichs camp in Iowa back in the day, enduring a trial of fire with a room full of unforgiving, hard-nosed veterans. "Youd go into the gym and they were like hurting people," said Ellenberger. "Between Jens (Pulver), Robbie (Lawler) and Pat, I probably got dropped with body shots more times in like three or four sparring sessions that I have in my whole life." That was back in 2005-06, after Ellenbergers stint in the U.S. marines. "Youre like, Why am I doing this? It sucks," Ellenberger recalled of his time at Miletichs where fighters either got better or got out. At the same time north of the border, a teenage Rory (Ares) MacDonald had already started his MMA journey at a gym in Kelowna, B.C. MacDonald is a new breed of MMA fighter. Instead of merging into the hybrid sport from wrestling, kick-boxing or another discipline, MacDonald started learning them all together. He made his pro debut in October 2005, with his parents signing off on the 16-year-old fighting. At 28, Ellenberger is just four years older than MacDonald so it will be hardly two generations of welterweights climbing into the cage Saturday night at KeyArena on a televised UFC card. But the fourth-ranked Ellenberger represents a stiff test for No. 3 MacDonald, seen by some as a future 170-pound champion. Ellenberger (29-6) has packed a lot into his MMA career, having fought in the IFL, Bodog, M-1 and Bellator before going 8-2 in the UFC. "Hes a phenomenal opponent," Firas Zahabi, who trains both MacDonald (14-1) and champion Georges St-Pierre, said of Ellenberger. "He could be a world champion, he could easily be a world champion right now. He hits hard, hes a great wrestler, hes game, his accuracy is great. Hes a phenomenal puncher, a phenomenal fighter." "Hes a very, very well-rounded fighter," added John Danaher, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach to both MacDonald and GSP. Ellenberger, a native of Nebraska who now lives and trains in California, is also more than a little mischievous. He has waged a one-sided Twitter war of words against the stony-faced MacDonald, who is less than comfortable opening up in front of strangers although he is getting better. MacDonalds conversation with a scrum of print reporters lasted two minutes 43 seconds Thursday. Ellenberger insists his pushing MacDonalds buttons is nothing personal. But his pre-fight hype has helped crank up interest in their co-main event and overshadow the main event title fight between flyweight champ Demetrious (Might Mouse) Johnson and relative unknown John Moraga. "Rory is talented. Top 10, No," Ellenberger says in his official ufc.com bio. "He has been invented by the media and sold to the fans like a new Justin Bieber song." Ellenberger believes he has got under MacDonalds skin. But he is also smart enough to know that winning the pre-fight war of words wont mean much when it comes to throwing down. "Were still going to fight. Whether I say something or not, were still going to fight and Ive got to perform, which is exactly what Im looking forward to." MacDonalds flavour of the month status has wavered in recent times, perhaps due to a fight schedule that has only seen him in action twice since August 2011 due to injury. While he is 5-1 in the UFC and has won four straight, critics point to the fact that B.J. Penn and Nate Diaz are lightweights in reality while Che Mills and Mike Pyle were no world-beaters. That seems somewhat revisionist. MacDonald thumped all four, racking up a combined 229 significant strikes to his opponents 59. He also led 10-2 in takedowns, with seven of those coming against Diaz. At six foot, Macdonald has two inches in height and 2.5 inches in reach on Ellenberger. And these days, he exudes an icy-cold approach to fighting. He is not a man to be taken lightly. Ellenberger, perhaps not surprisingly, points to MacDonalds lone loss in the UFC - a TKO defeat at the hands of former WEC champion Carlos (Natural Born Killer) Condit in June 2010. "Ive seen what I needed to see, Ive seen him break," said Ellenberger. Of course, Ellenberger also lost to Condit when they fought in September 2009. MacDonald was due to face No. 2 Condit in a rematch at UFC 158 in March but the Montreal card was rejigged after the Canadian was sidelined with a neck injury. Johny Hendricks beat Condit to become the No. 1 contender while Ellenberger, who had been due to face Hendricks, knocked out former Strikeforce champion Nate (The Great) Marquardt. MacDonald had to watch from the sidelines. While MacDonald, who now calls Montreal home, is beginning to loosen up in the public eye, he is not your average cage-fighter. While many show up at post-fight news conference in a sponsors T-shirt, MacDonald dips deep into his extensive wardrobe. MacDonald has style inside and outside the cage. Lawler, who is also on Saturdays card, is looking forward to seeing MacDonald and Lawler scrap. "Its going to be a slugfest, I think," he said. "Technical (MacDonald) versus athleticism and brute force (Ellenberger)." Zahabi has said that he has worked with MacDonald to refine his training to avoid injury, trying to get the young fighter to sharpen his skills with more technical drills rather than "grinding out his body" in the gym. "Theres a time to train hard but that has to be periodical and thats what Rory has to learn." Should MacDonald win Saturday, there will be more talk of whether he will ever face St-Pierre for the title. Its been a constant issue with Zahabi forced to answer questions during this camp on why the champion was not helping MacDonald prepare for Ellenberger. Zahabi says the answer is simple. He has better Ellenberger lookalikes in camp and St-Pierre, who faces No. 1 contender Hendricks in November, is facing a totally different opponent that MacDonalds. "Its not really a question, its just a repetitive question," Zahabi said of a possible GSP-MacDonald matchup. "The answers always the same "Theyre not planning on fighting each other. Everybodys training well together and were getting along and there are more important things in life." Custom Giants T-shirts . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Cheap Custom Giants Jersey . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. http://www.customgiantsjersey.com/ .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. Giants Jerseys China . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. Custom Giants Jersey China . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. MILAN -- Four months proved to be a long time in international football as Italy drew 0-0 against Germany on Tuesday in a match which bore little resemblance to their enthralling encounter at the European Championship.The teams on a cold night in Milan were very different from those which faced each other in the quarterfinals in Bordeaux on July 2 -- a match won by Germany on penalties after it finished 1-1.Both teams lined up with just four players who had started for them in France, while Italy also had a new coach in Gian Piero Ventura.Yannick Gerhardt made his international debut in a youthful Germany side.It was a very tactical game, well played by both teams, Germany coach Joachim Loew said. It was a great test for our youngsters. We fought well, it was a good match also for the fans. We didnt play as well in the second half maybe but overall Im happy.So many of the lads have little international experience, theyre young. So playing this match, with this kind of crowd, added to their growth ... The result wasnt important, but rather the attitude of these players.Andrea Belotti has scored three goals in his past two Italy matches and he went closest to breaking the deadlock, eight minutes from time. The 22-year-old Belotti carved out space for himself on the right of the area but his effort crashed off the inside of the left upright.We did good things for long periods, Ventura said. We were playing against the world champions. There is still a lot of work to do but the players are ready to do that. They want to grow, they want to improve, they want to train....I think it was a good performance, above all a good reading of the game. I think the future of this team is positive. I see it as rosy ... We are a good team and were working to become a great team.There was an unnsporting moment before kickoff as the German national anthem was booed by a loud number of home fans but Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon led the rest of the crowd in applauding to drown out the jeers.ddddddddddddIt was Buffons 167th match for his country and the Juventus goalkeeper moved level with former Spain shotstopper Iker Casillas and former Latvia midfielder Vitalijs Astafjevs as the most capped players in European football history.Nice forward Mario Balotelli, who has not been selected for Italy since the 2014 World Cup, was in the stands to watch his country.Both teams before the match had said they werent treating it as a friendly but there was little urgency among their play as they struggled to create decent scoring opportunities.Germanys first real chance came in the 12th minute following a delightful pass from Ilkay Gundogan to Leon Goretzka but Buffon did well to block with his feet.Italy went closest in the 25th as Ciro Immobile beat the offside trap to run onto Daniele De Rossis chipped ball over the top but the former Borussia Dortmund striker fired wide of the right post.Teenage goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma replaced Buffon at halftime, to loud cheers from the fans in the stadium in which his club AC Milan plays its home matches.Donnarumma made a rare mistake shortly after the hour when he allowed substitute Kevin Vollands effort to squirm under his body but the goal was ruled out on a marginal offside decision, to the 17-year-olds relief.The match was used as a further test on using video replays to aid match officials in key decisions and the VAR -- Video Assistant Referee -- technology confirmed the offside call was correct. 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