MMA Preview – Cub Swanson vs Darren Elkins at UFC Fight Night 199
CUB SWANSON VS DARREN ELKINS FACTS
When is UFC Fight Night 199? Saturday 18th December, 2021 - 22:00 start (UK)
Where is UFC Fight Night 199? UFC APEX, Enterprise, Nevada (US)
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night 199? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC events
What channel is UFC Fight Night 199 on? BT Sport 3
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 199? BT Sport subscribers can stream the fight online via the BT Sport website
For viewers in the United States, the event will be shown live on ESPN+ and you can sign up for access as part of a Disney Bundle here!
CUB SWANSON VS DARREN ELKINS LOWDOWN
Fan favourite, Cub Swanson (27-12) returns for his 21st UFC fight. When you have fought a long as he has at a high level, the decline is inevitable. He took on four monsters in a row between 2017 and 2019 losing to all of them – Brian Ortega (submission), Frankie Edgar (unanimous decision), Renato Moicano (submission) and Shane Burgos (split decision). He was then seemingly fed to the jiu-jitsu wizard Kron Gracie to get submitted, but he displayed all his experience and skill defending the takedowns and handing Gracie his first MMA loss. He then turned back the clock knocking out Daniel Pineda, but was then paired with another monster, Giga Chikadze who TKO’d him in the first round.
Darren Elkins (26-9) makes his 25th appearance and like Swanson, he has also bounced back from a four-fight skid. The current champion Alexander Volkanovski snapped his six-fight win streak with a comfortable unanimous decision and then he got TKO’d by Ricardo Lamas to pile on more misery. Ryan Hall and Nate Landwehr then made it four losses in a row with unanimous decisions. He replied with a submission over Luiz Eduardo Garagorri sending him out of the UFC and then he pulled a ‘performance of the night’ out the bag with a TKO of Darrick Minner five months ago.
CUB SWANSON VS DARREN ELKINS PREDICTION
Two absolute war horses are destined for a gritty scrap here. We know what to expect from Elkins and that will be to try grapple for three rounds with a furious pace. He will not go away and he will keep pressing forward no matter how much damage he takes.
So, Swanson needs to fight smart and not be tempted into a brawl which is hard for him to do especially as he is very good at it. We are backing Swanson’s cardio and takedown defence to avoid being subdued by Elkins and the more space he can create, the more damage he will inflict with a clear striking advantage.
We still expect Elkins to close the distance by enforcing the odd clinch and he is the value bet as the underdog, but Swanson should win this fight with his trademarked ‘beautiful chaos’ on the feet.
Prediction: Swanson via Decision
Value Bet: Elkins via Decision
