Las Vegas, NV — UFC veteran Darren Elkins picked his opponent this weekend because he knew it would be an exciting fight.
With his back against the wall, Elkins got back into the win column late last year when he submitted Luiz Eduardo Garagorri. It was a much-needed win as “The Damage” was on the worst losing streak of his long career at four straight losses.
“I really needed that,” Elkins told reporters at the UFC Vegas 32 media day on Wednesday. “I came off four losses in a row, and I needed to get back into it. Otherwise, you know, maybe I would have been done.”
With Elkins back in the win column, the 34-fight veteran picked Darrick Minner as his next opponent. Minner is riding a two-fight win streak since losing his UFC debut and has looked really good.
“I asked for him,” Elkins said. “We were looking at some of the guys available, and they said ‘Darrick Minner,’ and I said, ‘Yeah.’ “I mean, that’s an exciting match-up. I’m a grappler. He’s a grappler. We both put on exciting fights, so I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do Darrick Minner.’ And at the time, we weren’t sure we were going to be able to match him up with me, and then, yeah, we’re going to do it.”
One of the reporters present mentioned that usually when there are two high-level grapplers, there is a tendency for fighters to stand and throw hands. Elkins agreed and said he’s expecting a little bit of everything.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 32 media day scrum with Cory Sandhagen above.
