Darren Elkins vs Daniel Peneda Prediction: An open chance for both fighters

By Sunday morning, UFC Fight Night will host the featherweight division bout between Darren Elkins and Daniel Peneda. It is set as the Main Card (fight 7 of 12) event in the Octagon enclosure. Darren Elkins has lost twice in his last five bouts, while Daniel Pineda has only won once in his last five fights. All action will take place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, and can be watched live on ESPN+.

Darren Elkins is the 44th Current Best MMA Welterweight Fighter. He boasts of twenty-eight career wins and eleven losses. The 40-year-old fighter is fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Sacramento, California. Throughout his career, his victories are primarily from the judges  decisions. His last fight was on October 14, 2023, in UFC fight night against TJ Brown on the preliminary card and won by way of submission. Prior to this, he was on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night and lost against Jonathan Pearce via a unanimous decision. In 2010, he joined UFC promotion and has fought twenty-eight times, winning eighteen and losing ten. He recorded a loss in December 2021 on a main card on UFC Fight Night against Cub Swanson via Strikes knockout. Other significant victories Daniel has recorded were against Eduardo Garagorri, Michael Johnson, Dennis Bermudez, Mirsad Bektic, Godofredo Pepey, Chas Skelly, and Robert Whiteford. His performance on a Main Card UFC Fight Night matchup against Darrick Minner won the Performance of the Night Award.

Daniel Peneda boasts of a professional career record of twenty-eight wins and sixteen losses. He is nicknamed “The Pit” and fights out of Houston, Texas. He last fought on July 27, 2024, in UFC 304 and lost to Nathaniel Wood via a unanimous decision. His matchup against Khusein Askhabov was cancelled on October 7th, 2023, at the UFC Fight Night event as his opponent was arrested. Prior to this loss, he recorded another loss over Alex Caceres due to a unanimous decision. His fight on March 25, 2023, won Tucker Luiz the performance of the night award. It was as a result of a guillotine submission by Daniel in the second round. He did not record any fights in the year 2022 but fought three times the year before (2021) and won twice. Among the three bouts was the no contest fight against Andre Filli after an accidental eye poke. After that fight, he had two fights in the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 1 against Davi Ramos and Grant Dawson, all by a decision victory in an eight-minute one-round. In 2019, he joined the Professional Fighters League promotion with two no contests. After that, in 2009 to 2017, he was on the Bellator MMA Promotion with just a win before moving to UFC and winning five times, losing seven times.

Both fighters have been inconsistent in recent times. I see this bout as a very open-ended race across both fighters. Daniel Pineda has more fight experience but an equal amount of wins with his opponents. It will be a tough call to make. I see this bout going the distance with the safest bet over 1.5 rounds. I support Darren Elkins to get the answers in this bout. This is because he has the most consistency and height with a reach advantage.