A busy week of fight announcement continued with the booking of an important featherweight tilt. That plus some other news and notes in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Darren Elkins vs. Alexander Volkanovski, UFC Fight Night 133
A featheweight bout between top contender Darren Elkins and emerging contender Alexander Volkanovski will take place at UFC Fight Night 133, which goes down Saturday, July 14 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. The news of the bout was originally broken by Tom Taylor of BJPenn.com and has been officially confirmed by the fighters via social media. Elkins (24-5) has quietly emerged as one of the top featherweights in the game. The 33-year-old American has won six-straight fights and in his last outing he submitted Michael Johnson for arguably the biggest win of his career to date. With a 14-4 record in the UFC, Elkins is a proven winner and despite always being underrated and often a betting underdog has really looked like an incredible fighter as of late, with a comeback KO win over Mirsad Bektic standing out as one of 2017’s biggest upsets. Volkanovski (17-1) is on a 14-fight win streak and in his last bout he knocked out Jeremy Kennedy. The 29-year-old Aussie is 4-0 so far in the UFC and he continues to look better and better every fight. This looks like a really tough fight to call as both men are red-hot right now. Elkins has proven he’s super tough and durable and can win as a dog, but Volkanovski has shown very few flaws in his game, while we’ve seen in the past Elkins’ nickname “The Damage” is apt due to the amount of shots he eats in his fights. It’s a fight I need to look at more, but I’d have to imagine Volkanovski will be the favorite based on the historical betting odds by both men.
