UFC veteran Darren Elkins will test the mettle of Darrick Minner in an intriguing featherweight bout in the main card of UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw this coming Saturday. Both Elkins and Minner are coming off wins, but who among them will follow up his win with another? Check out our preview of this fight below.
Elkins is looking to keep his momentum going after recording his first win in five fights when he defeated Eduardo Garagorri via submission in the third round of their fight back in November 2020. Prior to that, he lost four fights in a row, three via unanimous decisions and one via T/KO. The 37-year-old Team Alpha Male fighter once had a lengthy undefeated streak in the UFC, winning six fights in a row from 2015 to 2018. Elkins showed his wrestling prowess in the Garagorri fight, as he took his opponents down to the mat a total of seven times. Against Minner, expect Elkins to resort to his wrestling again, but don’t be surprised if he tries to dish out strikes too, considering that he has a two-inch reach advantage over his next opponent. Elkins is averaging 3.5 significant strikes landed per minute and 2.7 takedowns per 15 minutes. He also has nine wins via T/KOs and five through submissions.
If Elkins wants to go to war on the ground, Minner would want to make him his guest. The 31-year-old Minner is a submission specialist, which you could easily tell from the fact that he has 22 submission wins, though he’s also been submitted eight times. He is 4-1 in his last five fights and 2-0 in his last two. He last saw action in February 2021, scoring a unanimous decision victory over Charles Rosa. Before that, he pulled off a submitted TJ Laramie in the first round of their September 2020 bout. Minner has only fought inside the UFC Octagon a total of three times, but he’s an experienced fighter that’s rapidly building confidence fighting under Dana White’s company. So far in the UFC, Minner has shown great striking defense, having deflected or avoided 70 percent of his opponents’ significant strikes and absorbed just 1.40 significant strikes per minute.
