A 31-year-old American exchanged 513 strikes with his UFC opponent, winning a brutal and bloody 15-minute battle
Alan Dawson
- Nate Landwehr and Darren Elkins went to war at a UFC event on Saturday.
- The three-round featherweight bout was the third scheduled fight on an 11-bout card, which took place behind-closed-doors in Jacksonville as mass gatherings remain banned in Florida to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
- Landwehr and Elkins exchanged 513 strikes. That's one every 1.7 seconds on average.
- While Elkins threw more, Landwehr appeared to be more effective as he sliced and diced his opponent, cutting him with wounds which leaked all over the canvas.
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"I feel a little bloody, but I feel great," Landwehr said after scoring his first UFC win. "I think I just proved that I am one of the most elite fighters on the planet."
By the end, Elkins looked like he'd lost a fight against a bear, with a cut in the middle of his forehead, on both his eyebrows, and with welts around his eyes.
Elkins was wearing a mask of blood before the fight had finished.
Some of the blood poured from his head, into his eyes, down his nose and all over his tattoo-covered chest.
Their bout was the third on an 11-fight card, and the non-stop slugging fest left a blood-stained canvas for the 16 fighters competing in the Octagon later.
Elkins landed more strikes overall (142 of 276) but Landwehr's shots (121 of 237) caused horrific damage.
But while Elkins was the more active fighter, it became clear Landwehr was the more effective.
Landwehr didn't out-strike Elkins in any of the scheduled three rounds in Jacksonville, Florida, but it was not long before his 121 strikes — many of which were deemed "significant" by statistics — cut Elkins open, leaving him bleeding all over himself and the canvas.
Elkins landed nice shots early, compiling a 55% strike accuracy rate after landing 44 of his 70 shots.
Elkins also nailed one of four takedown attempts.
This is what Nate Landwehr and Darren Elkins looked like before a punch was thrown in their featherweight fight Saturday.
513 strikes were exchanged in total, producing a 15-minute battle as bloody as it was brutal.
Landwehr and Elkins just wouldn't stop hitting each other at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, and so it was not long before their faces changed as the physical damage took its toll.
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