Ryan Hall didn’t get the finish this time, but what he did against Darren Elkins over three rounds at UFC on ESPN+ 13 was perhaps even more impressive than if he had.
Hall (8-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) essentially outclassed Elkins (24-8 MMA, 14-7 UFC) to win a unanimous decision in what was almost entirely a standup fight. He connected with multiple knockdowns in a largely one-sided fight to win by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 and stay unbeaten inside the octagon.
The featherweight bout was part of the UFC on ESPN+ 13 preliminary card at Golden1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. The event streamed on ESPN+.
Hall opened the fight by keeping his distance and peppering Elkins with kicks from the outside. Elkins tried to close the distance and land strikes, but also keep enough range to avoid Hall’s diving heel hook attempts. Hall surprised Elkins in a big way, though, when on the feet he unleashed a spinning kick that led to a knockdown. Hall tried to follow with a guillotine attempt, but Elkins somehow escaped and recovered to his feet. Hall followed up with more aggressive offense on the feet, but couldn’t endanger Elkins with a stoppage again.
The pace didn’t slow going into the second. Hall threatened Elkins with his diving grappling attempts, but couldn’t get anything on the mat for a significant period of time. That mattered not to him, though, because he gained confidence with his hands and began to find his target. Hall connected with multiple knockdowns and while Elkins’ durability kept him from being stoppage, it was clear Elkins was running out of answers after 10 minutes.
There was no way Elkins was quitting with time still on the clock, though, and in the final round he came out trying to create some chaos. He pressured Hall, who showed no signs of concern as he threw spinning attack after spinning attack mixed in town his unorthodox takedown attempts. Elkins corner encouraged him to throw caution to the wind, but Hall’s range and movement allowed him to run away on the scorecards for the clear-cut win.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 13 results include:
- Ryan Hall def. Darren Elkins via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Jonathan Martinez def. Liu Pingyuan via knockout (knee) – Round 3, 3:54
- Brianna Van Buren def. Livinha Souza via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Benito Lopez def. Vince Morales via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 13, check out the MMA Results.
