UFC Boise featured an important featherweight showdown between Darren Elkins and Alexander Volkanovski, with Volkanovski coming out with the victory.
Darren Elkins entered UFC Boise on a six fight winning streak, yet despite that had yet to be considered for serious title discussion. A win over Alexander Volkanovski could change that, frankly. Volkanovski on the other hand was a very bright prospect on a winning streak of his own, looking to break into the rankings. A win for either in Boise (a.k.a. UFC Fight Night 133) would be giant as a result.
Round one was a dominating display by Alexander Volkanovski. Nearly finishing Elkins by guillotine early in the fight, Volkanovski came close, but Elkins survived. For a time. However in the last minute Elkins was dropped twice and looked to be very, very close to being finished. He was on wobbly legs going back to his corner but recovered enough to make it to the second. That said, he needed to change his approach, or his night was going to come to an early end.
Rounds two and three were both heavily in favor of Volkanovski as well. Once again, he was seen putting Elkins on wobbly legs multiple times. Knowing he was up in the third round he displayed great fight IQ and attempted to take Elkins to the ground to secure the victory knowing Elkins has a tendency to come from behind in fights and would be looking for a finish. Volkanovski ended up keeping up the pressure in the third and ultimately secured the victory.
It’ll be interesting to see how far Volkanovski goes in the featherweight division. The sky is the limit after the young prospect dominated the tenth ranked featherweight in the world. The win comes after the Australian finished another top prospect in Jeremy Kennedy earlier this year.
Alexander Volkanovski def. Darren Elkins by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
