Competitive fires burn as brightly as ever within
Darren
Elkins.
The 37-year-old
Team Alpha Male representative will seek to improve upon his
16-9 record in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship when he tackles
Tristan
Connelly in a
UFC
on ESPN 35 featherweight feature this Saturday at the UFC Apex
in Las Vegas. Elkins has posted two wins across his past three
outings. However, he finds himself on the rebound following a
first-round technical knockout loss to
Cub Swanson
at UFC Fight Night 199 in December.
As Elkins pores over the remaining details associated with his
forthcoming clash with Connelly at 145 pounds, here are five things
you might not know about him:
1. He plays second fiddle in his hometown.
Elkins hails from Portage, Indiana, a city of some 40,000 people
that sits roughly 40 miles southeast of Chicago. He shares a
hometown with Gable Steveson, a two-time NCAA champion who struck
gold in freestyle wrestling at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Once believed to be ticketed for a career in mixed martial arts,
Steveson instead signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling
Entertainment.
2. He starred in the singlet.
“The Damage” excelled as a wrestler at Portage High School, where
he won a state title as a senior and compiled a 191-9 career
record. Elkins later wrestled collegiately at the University of
Wisconsin-Parkside, a Division II school in Somers, Wisconsin.
3. Championship glory did not escape his grasp.
Elkins made his professional debut at the age of 22, proceeded to
rattle off six consecutive victories and then laid claim to the
Corral Combat Classic lightweight title when he defeated
Pat Curran by
unanimous decision at C3 “Domination” on Nov. 22, 2008. Curran, of
course, went on to become a two-time
Bellator
MMA featherweight champion.
4. He has more than one gear.
Despite his well-earned reputation as a grinder, Elkins has seen 13
of his 36 career bouts—nine of his 26 wins and four of his 10
losses—end inside one round. That includes his encounters with
Swanson,
Chad Mendes,
Antonio
Carvalho,
Charles
Oliveira and
Duane Ludwig
in the UFC.
5. Reliability became one of his selling points.
As part of the UFC roster for more than 11 years, Elkins has made
as many appearances (25) inside the Octagon as
Matt Hughes,
Anderson
Silva and
Max
Holloway.