Gritty grapplers Darren Elkins and Tristan Connelly will battle in April.
Elkins (26-10 MMA, 16-9 UFC) meets Connelly (14-7 MMA, 1-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night on April 30, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and streams on ESPN+.
Two people with knowledge of the booking recently confirmed the matchup to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Global News was first to report the news, and Elkins subsequently announced it on social media.
Winner of two of his past three, Elkins is coming off a first-round TKO loss to Cub Swanson in December. Prior to that, the 37-year-old Team Alpha Male fighter scored back-to-back finishes of Eduardo Garagorri and Darrick Minner.
Canada’s Connelly has split his first two UFC appearances. After scoring an upset win over Michel Pereira in his promotional debut in September 2019, Connelly returned from a two-year layoff due to injury, losing to Pat Sabatini in his featherweight debut at UFC 261 this past April.
With the addition, the UFC Fight Night lineup for April 30 includes:
- Cortney Casey vs. Antonina Shevchenko
- Gina Mazany vs. Shanna Young
- Francisco Figueiredo vs. Daniel da Silva
- Mike Breeden vs. Natan Levy
- Gabe Green vs. Yohan Lainesse
- Jessica Penne vs. Luana Pinheiro
- Rafael Alves vs. Jared Gordon
- Carlos Candelario vs. Tatsuro Taira
- Tristan Connelly vs. Darren Elkins
