UFC 154 fight card primer: Steven Siler vs. Darren Elkins

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

The Bloody Elbow team gives you a brief preview of all the night's action from UFC 154 in Montreal, Quebec, including this featherweight fight between Steven Siler and Darren Elkins, which opens the preliminary card.

The UFC 154 curtain raiser on the preliminary card is a fight between two featherweights with three-fight winning streaks, as Steven Siler (21-9 MMA, 3-0 UFC) faces Darren Elkins (14-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC).

Siler has made a good post-TUF 14 run while Elkins is undefeated at 145 lbs. One of those hot streaks will be snapped and for a Facebook fight this is a pretty strong "opening bout". You can view this plus the ensuing three fights on the UFC's FB page at 6 PM ET/ 3 PM PT.

How do these two stack up?

Siler: 25 years old | 5'11" | 70" reach
Elkins: 28 years old | 5'10" | 71" reach

What have these two done recently?

Siler: W - Joey Gambino (SUB) | W - Cole Miller (UD) | W - Josh Clopton (UD)
Elkins: W - Diego Brandao (UD) | W - Zhang Tiequan (UD) | W - Michihiro Omigawa (UD)

How did these two get here?

Siler was a quarterfinalist on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter, but was eliminated after a KO loss to the eventual tournament winner Diego Brandao. Since then he's acquitted himself very well in the UFC, beating Josh Clopton in the season finale, upsetting veteran Cole Miller, and most recently submitting talented prospect Joey Gambino at UFC on FX 4 in June. When Siler loses though, he gets stopped. He's been knocked out 4 times and submitted 5 times, which accounts for all of his pro losses, including a KO defeat against Chad Mendes.

Elkins started his career as a lightweight and even recorded a win over future Bellator FW star Pat Curran. His UFC debut was a short one, as Duane Ludwig broke his ankle and could not continue, giving Elkins a TKO win. Elkins' 2nd fight was even shorter, as Charles Oliveira swiftly locked in a triangle-choke off of Elkins' early takedown and forced Elkins to submit. He's been a 145er since the Oliveira fight, and it's paid off. While his win over Michihiro Omigawa is somewhat contestable, there's no doubting his wins over Tiequan Zhang and surviving an early barrage to upset Diego Brandao.

Why should you care?

This really shouldn't be the first fight on Facebook. Both of these guys are on good winning streaks and the winner of this one will probably get a step up in competition.

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