Ryan Hall shockingly dominated Darren Elkins on the feet, leading to a decision victory at UFC Sacramento.
The clashing of styles in Darren Elkins vs. Ryan Hall at UFC Sacramento was about as drastic as it can get. Darren Elkins is known as a brawler with an amazing chin and a lot of heart. Elkins was formerly a top-10 UFC fighter, prior to his losses to Alexander Volkanovski and Ricardo Lamas in 2018. Prior to the loss to Volkanovski, he was on a six-fight winning streak, with notable wins over Michael Johnson, Dennis Bermudez, and Mirsad Bektic. The last of which was one of the greatest comeback wins of all time.
Ryan Hall, on the other hand, is one of the greatest grapplers to ever step in the cage. Hall is a former The Ultimate Fighter winner, defeating Artem Lobov to win the lightweight tournament in 2015. Hall would follow this up with wins over big names in Gray Maynard, and BJ Penn. The submission win over Penn being the first time that anyone has ever submitted the former UFC champion.
Ryan Hall spent a lot of the first round rolling for his patented heel hooks. However, he would close distance by using his spinning back kicks. Earlier in the first round, he landed a picture perfect spinning back kick to Elkins that landed clean. However, that wasn’t the kick that did the most damage. In the last minute of the round, Hall would fire off the same kick that would drop Elkins. Hall would dive onto a guillotine. But, Elkins would wriggle free. Despite taking another kick to the face in the final 20 seconds, Elkins survived to see the second round.
Elkins corner urged him to punish Hall when they went to the ground next. Elkins would hear it and the next time Hall rolled for his legs, Elkins landed a nice hammerfist. However, Hall would land the best shots of the round. First starting off by landing a straight right that would drop Elkins. Not much longer, Hall would stagger Elkins with a left hand that had him wobbling all over the place. The action then slowed until the end of the round where Hall would once again drop Elkins. However, Elkins would survive to the end of the round.
The third round saw Hall on his bike for the majority of it, leading to boos from the UFC Sacramento crowd. Elkins pushed the pace and landed some good shots to the body, and whenever Hall went to the ground would kick at his legs. However, that wasn’t going to be enough to win the fight, and Elkins knew it. Basically running at Hall for the last minute of the fight, Elkins couldn’t land anything of substance and ultimately led to his loss.
Result: Ryan Hall def. Darren Elkins via Unanimous Decision (29-28×2, 30-27)
