Darren Elkins vs Jonathan Pearce booked for UFC on ESPN 42

UFC on ESPN 42 is coming along quite nicely, as the UFC continues adding exciting match ups to the event.

Headlined by welterweight contenders Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland, UFC on ESPN 42 is to go down live from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

Also set to take place at this event is a featherweight contest between Darren Elkins (27-10) and Jonathan Pearce (13-4).

This is a very exciting match up, and it should be a very telling fight to see where Pearce is at in his career.

Darren Elkins has been in the UFC for some time at this point, first coming over in March of 2010. He’d go 6-1 through his first seven bouts, only losing to current UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, before losing again.

And even then, his second promotional defeat came to two-time featherweight title challenger and one of the best ever to had never won a belt, Chad Mendes.

Elkins then defeated multi-time, multi-organization world champion Hatsu Hioki, before losing a unanimous decision to Jeremy Stephens. He’d then go 1-1 over his next two before going on a six-fight win streak, finishing up with victories over Mirsad Bektic (KO), Dennis Bermudez (SD), and Michael Johnson (rear naked choke).

A four-fight losing streak would soon follow, before going 3-1 over his latest four appearances.

Jonathan Pearce on the other hand came to the UFC in October of 2019, debuting, and losing against Joe Lauzon (TKO) in Lauzon’s hometown of Boston, Massachusetts.

However, he’s since won his last four-straight bouts over the likes of Kai Kamaka III (TKO), Omar Morales (rear naked choke), Christian Rodriguez (UD), and Makwan Amirkhani (TKO). His pace and tenacity often times becomes too much for his opponents to deal with, but the same could be said for Elkins.

Both of these men have made their careers off breaking their opponents, and both do their best work when they’re on the mat in top position. That makes for a very compelling affair.

Who do you see coming out on top in this featherweight contest?

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Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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