Early career In 2006, Ebersole was living in California, he worked in construction and was also working part-time as a bartender as well as fighting professionally. He claims that the inability to maintain fighting as a full-time profession affected his performances in the cage. In September of that year he took a fight against
Shannon Ritch, winning the fight by submission. But the
California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) claimed that he and Ritch had worked the fight, and that despite dominating the bout, Ebersole had helped keep Ritch in the fight for longer than he otherwise would have been able to. The CSAC overturned his victory to a no contest and suspended Ebersole. Because of this and the lack of overall MMA opportunities for Ebersole in the US, he decided to pick up and move to Australia, where he had an impressive run on the regional circuit, running up a record of 12 wins and 3 losses over five years. In 2007, Ebersole was on a trip in the United States to say goodbye to friends and family before setting up permanent residence in Australia. While there he decided to take a short notice fight for the IFL against
Alex Schoenauer. Not only did he lose the fight via split decision, but he failed his post-fight drug test for marijuana. Ebersole claimed he had eaten marijuana brownies before taking the fight, and didn't have time to make sure they cleared his system. This resulted in his second suspension by the CSAC, and reinforced his belief in the necessity of his move to Australia to further his fighting career. Ebersole won via unanimous decision using unorthodox strikes and ground control in a bout that earned
Fight of the Night honors. In his second UFC fight, Ebersole faced veteran
Dennis Hallman on August 6, 2011, at
UFC 133. He won the fight via
TKO in the first round. Ebersole was also awarded an honorary "getting those horrifying shorts off TV as soon as possible" bonus by
Dana White for defeating Hallman, who was wearing
Speedos (Speedos have since been banned in the UFC). Ebersole was expected to face
Rory MacDonald on December 10, 2011, at
UFC 140. However, McDonald pulled out of their fight due to injury. Ebersole instead faced
Claude Patrick, where he won a close, back and forth match via split decision. Ebersole fought
TJ Waldburger on June 22, 2012, at
UFC on FX 4 and won the fight via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28). After the bout Ebersole said that he may try to drop down to the lightweight division. If he moves down, it will be the fifth weight class in which he has competed. Making a quick return to the Octagon less than a month later, Ebersole replaced an injured
Claude Patrick and faced
James Head on July 21, 2012, at
UFC 149. Ebersole received his first UFC loss to Head via split decision snapping his eleven fight winning streak and receiving his first loss since September 2008. Ebersole made his first appearance in over a year when he fought
Rick Story at
UFC 167 on November 16, 2013. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Ebersole next fought
John Howard on September 27, 2014, at
UFC 178. He won the fight via split decision. Ebersole was expected to face
Alan Jouban on June 6, 2015, at
UFC Fight Night 68. However, Jouban pulled out of the fight in late March citing injury and was replaced by
Omari Akhmedov. Ebersole lost the fight via TKO after he was unable to continue after the first round due to a knee injury sustained from a kick by Akhmedov. Ebersole announced his retirement after the fight.
Post Retirement Ebersole would fight one more time, June 24, 2016, facing Steven Kennedy at Hex Fight Series 6. Kennedy won the main event by decision. ==Championships and awards==