Darren Elkins joins elite UFC club alongside 'GSP', 'RDA' and others after terrific UFC Fight Night win
Darren Elkins scored an emphatic decision win over Tristan Connelly at UFC Fight Night: Font vs. Vera. 'The Damage' simultaneously completed a unique record, joining Georges St. Pierre and Rafael dos Anjos amongst other UFC greats.
With his win over Connelly on Saturday night, Elkins became the sixth fighter in UFC history to land 1,000 significant strikes, 50 takedowns, and commit to 10 submission attempts. Prior to this, the list included Demetrious Johnson, Frankie and Nik Lentz in addition to GSP and RDA.
Check out the tweet by the UFC below:
Darren Elkins (@DarrenElkinsMMA) is now the sixth fighter in UFC history to land 1,000 significant strikes, 50 takedowns, and commit to 10 submission attempts in the UFC. He joins Georges St-Pierre, Frankie Edgar, Demetrious Johnson, Rafael Dos Anjos, and Nik Lentz. #UFCVegas53
Elkins also edged close to Max Holloway's record of most featherweight victories in UFC history. While Holloway has recorded eighteen wins at 145lbs, Elkins follows close behind at sixteen.
Darren Elkins closes in on Max Holloway's record with his 16th victory in UFC featherweight competition. #UFCVegas53 https://t.co/goxNhxCTn7
'The Damage' landed 75 out of the 151 significant strikes he threw at Connelly at UFC Vegas 53. The 37-year-old also found success in five of his ten takedown attempts to earn a unanimous decision win.
Elkins also revealed that this was the last outing on his current UFC contract and demanded a new contract from Sean Shelby. He said in his post-fight octagon interview:
"I want to fight again maybe around September-ish. This was the last fight on my contract so hey Sean [Shelby], let’s get a new contract.”
Watch Darren Elkins' post-fight interview below:
Darren Elkins reveals potential timeline for retirement
Darren Elkins made an impressive UFC debut in 2010, scoring a first-round TKO win over Duane Ludwig in a lightweight matchup. After a first-round submission loss to current lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in his next outing, 'The Damage' dropped to featherweight where he racked up a five-fight winning streak.
Elkins went back and forth in his next few fights before recording another impressive six-fight winning streak from 2015 to 2018. This was followed by a four-fight skid but the Indiana native managed to bounce back with back-to-back stoppage victories.
'The Damage' is now 3-1 in his last four and wants to get in a few more outings before hanging up his gloves for good. In the lead-up to his recent bout against Tristan Connelly, Elkins revealed that he plans on retiring just before turning forty. The 37-year-old told ufc.com:
“I’m floating out the next two years. I’m shooting for the next two years. I’ll be 40 in about two years; in two weeks I’ll be 38. I want to retire just before 40, so no matter what, that’s kind of the timeline I’m thinking. I’m thinking two more years.”
Rule number 1 for fighting Darren Elkins: don’t fight him like a Darren Elkins.