Beating the Odds: UFC 209

The fight served as a window into one man’s soul.

Darren Elkins withstood a horrific beating for the better part of 10 minutes before rallying to stop American Top Team prospect Mirsad Bektic with third-round punches at UFC 209 “Woodley vs. Thompson 2” on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A whopping +520 underdog according to BetDSI.com, Elkins brought it to a dramatic close 3:19 into Round 3.

Bektic (-759) assaulted the Team Alpha Male rep throughout the first round, as the beating he administered became increasingly uncomfortable to watch. He executed a takedown, split open Elkins with an elbow strike above the eyebrow and mauled the Indiana native with stomach-churning ground-and-pound. Per FightMetric, Bektic outlanded his counterpart by a 102-6 margin in Round 1. Think Leonardo DiCaprio versus the grizzly bear in “The Revenant.”

Even as his blood puddled and stained the canvas red, Elkins fought on. He pushed Bektic beyond the second round and into a third, where fortune smiled upon his fortitude. Elkins snuck behind the Bosnian featherweight along the fence and cut loose with a volley of right hands and a head kick that resulted in a jaw-dropping finish.

Another substantial underdog followed the Elkins lead, as David Teymur (+307) took a unanimous decision from Jackson-Wink MMA standout Lando Vannata in the lightweight co-main event. Teymur leaned heavily on his kicks in the second and third rounds, mixed in tight punching combinations whenever possible and incorporated the occasional takedown to keep Vannata (-395) guessing. All three judges scored it 30-27 for the Swede, who operates out of the same Allstars Training Center camp that gave rise to Alexander Gustafsson.

“I feel awesome,” Teymur said after he extended his winning streak to six fights. “I deserve this. I’ve said this since day one, the day I came to the UFC: I didn’t come just to say hi. I’m coming for the world title. I am going to take MMA striking to a new level.”

Meanwhile, former Jungle Fight champion Iuri Alcantara (+130) overcame some adversity of his own -- he nearly succumbed to blows in the first round -- to spring a mild upset on the previously unbeaten Luke Sanders (-150) in their undercard clash at 135 pounds. Alcantara submitted the MMA Lab export with a kneebar 3:13 into the second round, improving to 9-4 inside the Octagon.

Two other favorites were undercut. Stephen Thompson (-140) failed in his second attempt to wrest the welterweight championship from Tyron Woodley (+116), losing a majority decision in the headliner; and Rashad Evans (-246) in his debut at 185 pounds wound up on the wrong side of a split decision against four-time Olympian Daniel Kelly (+200).

“I really appreciate Rashad picking me to fight him, and it just shows that us Aussies can fight at the top level in the UFC,” Kelly said. “I think I had more forward pressure. I think I hit him a little bit more than he hit me. Granted, he took me down, but he couldn’t get any control. I think the forward pressure probably won me the fight, that and the dirty boxing.”