The twin brother of UFC veteran Jake Ellenberger, Joe Ellenberger is an up and coming lightweight fighter who's quietly been garnering attention in the Midwest for his performances through his first ten professional bouts. Ellenberger comes from a wrestling background and trains (as well as coaches) out of the Premier Combat Center, where he gets the opportunity to train with UFC veterans Jason Brilz, Chad Reiner and Ryan Jensen on a regular basis. A seasoned amateur wrestler, Ellenberger was a former State High School Wrestling Champion from Nebraska in addition to twice earning Division II NCAA All-American wrestling honours while wrestling at the University of Nebraska-Kearney prior to embarking on his career in mixed martial arts. His wrestling base has played an integral part in his early career where Ellenberger has displayed a quick shot, good takedowns and proven very effective fighting from top position. Ellenberger displays a power game on the ground, showing very good ground control and looks to posture up and land big, heavy punches and hammer fists from inside his opponents guard. Ellenberger continues with powerful strikes from side control and from his opponents back (see bout with Joe Wilk), and overall displays a very active and at times suffocating ground and pound game. Ellenberger does look to pass guard and improve positions on the ground as well as displaying a developing jiu jitsu game as he's proven he is competent enough to take advantage of submission opportunities if they should present themselves (see Marshall Martin fight). However, as effective as he's been early in his career there are still questions surrounding his ground skills. For one, his guard game and overall proficiency at fighting off his back remains largely untested. In addition, Ellenberger has yet to face a fighter with a great guard or better wrestler abilities then him (as there are plenty of in the upper echelons of the division), and how he would perform in those situations is still unknown.

On his feet, Ellenberger exhibits solid potential in his striking game as he shows good instincts and natural raw skills. With heavy hands, improving footwork, a powerful overhead right, and a quick straight right counter, Ellenberger displays a lot of promise in his MMA boxing skills but will need to continue working on his overall technique - both offensively and defensively. Ellenberger also displays good dirty boxing skills and throws good knees from the clinch as well as against the fence, and overall shows well rounded standup abilities.