Two more bouts were added to the UFC’s October PPV event, UFC 179, which takes place October 25 at Ginásio do Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Both of these bouts will be on the preliminary card. The first is a featherweight bout between Darren Elkins and Lucas Martins. Elkins is the prototypical grinder who uses his wrestling skills to drag his opponents down to the mat and beat them up there, but he’s coming off of a loss to Jeremy Stephens where he wasn’t able to implement his gameplan. Against Martins, Elkins will likely have more success taking his opponent down to the ground, but with Martins’ improving takedown defence, if he’s able to keep this fight on the feet he will likely light Elkins up. Although Martins is coming off of three-straight wins, and although this fight is in his home country, I still feel like Elkins is a tough matchup for almost anyone at 145lbs and I see him being able to get the takedowns here and grind out a win. As far as a line goes, though, Elkins is a guy who is never respected so I doubt he’s going to be more than 2-to-1 here. But if for some reason the public goes crazy on Martins, the line on Elkins could drop closer to a Pick ’em, and if that happens, one of my favorite fighters to bet on will once again be a play for me. The second newly-announced bout is a lightweight bout between Gilbert Burns and Christos Giagos. Burns made his UFC debut this past July at UFC on FOX 12 and defeated Andreas Stahl via unanimous decision in a welterweight bout. However, he was a small 170lber and the decision to drop to 155lbs makes a lot of sense for the member of the Blackzilians. But the UFC isn’t giving him an easy matchup here against Giagos, who recently won the RFA lightweight title against Dakota Cochrane. Giagos is on a four-fight win streak — all wins coming by stoppage in that time — and overall is a dangerous striker with knockout power in all of his limbs. Although Burns has a ton of hype behind him, he has to watch his chin if he’s going to get by Giagos, and I don’t think this is a gimme fight for Burns at all. Still, I expect him to be the favorite heading into this fight, and to most it would be considered an upset if Giagos pulls it off.
