The finishes have come thick and fast through the early action at UFC 314 in Miami.
Four of the first five fights at the Kaseya Center on April 12 ended without the need for the scorecards with some statement finishes along the way.
Tresean Gore was left shooting for a takedown on Marc Goddard after being stopped by Marco Tulio in the first middleweight contest of the night.
Not to be outdone, recent Fighting Nerds convert Michal Oleksiejczuk produced a first-round finish at 185-pounds as Sedriques Dumas protested the stoppage.
Whilst fight fans expected a lot of action in the UFC 314 prelim opener between Julian Erosa and Darren Elkins, the matchup ended up being one-sided from an early stage in the bout.
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
Julian Erosa produced his ninth win inside the Octagon at UFC 314 as he recorded his third consecutive first-round finish.
‘Juicy J’ took on 41-fight veteran and featherweight staple Darren Elkins who was riding the momentum of back-to-back wins at 40-years-old.
Throughout his career, Elkins has been known for withstanding a lot of damage with his resilience and relentless cardio being his two biggest weapons for a long time.
He isn’t nicknamed ‘The Damage’ for no reason but it didn’t take long before Elkins was on the wrong end of a fight-changing strike.
Elkins secured a relatively easy takedown early on in the first round but Erosa was able to offer some offense off of his back by throwing several up kicks.
One kick in particular landed flush as the experienced Elkins fell into his opponent’s guard before both men returned to their feet.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
It was immediately clear that the shot had hurt the veteran who was visibly struggling to recover as he backed away from his opponent without having his balance.
Erosa continued to pick off Elkins who went for several more takedowns but it only ever felt like a matter of time before the 35-year-old produced a finish due to his opponent’s condition.
Several unanswered hammer fists forced referee Mike Beltran to step in and wave off the action with many fans criticizing his call to let the fight go on for as long as it did with Elkins being in bad shape.
Commentators Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier both believed that Elkins had been unable to recover from the up kick that was landed early on in the fight.
“Right here, Darren Elkins gets hit with this up kick,” said Cormier when watching the replays. “Right here, bang! It hurts him right, it kind of skirts him on the side of the head. You know those are the worst but I mean everything he got hit with after was just a problem… He never recovered. I mean, four minutes later and he had not recovered from an up kick.”
The durability that Darren Elkins has been known for throughout his UFC career simply wasn’t there on April 12 in Miami.
With 30 Octagon appearances under his belt, the 40-year-old has taken a lot of damage over the years which led to fans questioning whether it has caught up with him after he was unable to recover in this fight.
A lot of reactions to the contest spoke about how hard it was to watch with Elkins being a sitting duck in the firing line for most of the first round.
“Dude Darren Elkins needs to retire.. Love “The Damage” But that was sad to watch,” wrote one fan in response to yet another finish at UFC 314.
Daniel CormierDarren ElkinsJoe RoganJulian ErosaUFC 314
