Billy Elekana, UFC 311 ceremonial weigh-in Credit score: Gabriel Gonzalez/Cageside Press
One in every of two debuting fighters at this Saturday’s UFC 311 is gentle heavyweight Billy Elekana, who faces Bogdan Guskov instead of the injured Johnny Walker. The cardboard options two title fights: Merab Dvalishvili faces Umar Nurmagomedov within the co-main occasion, whereas Islam Makhachev takes on Renato Moicano on quick discover to prime the marquee.
Billy ElekanaStanding at six-foot-twoFighting at 205 lbs (Gentle heavyweight)29-years-oldLas Vegas, Nevada, USTraining out of Rebellion MMA Coaching CenterA professional document of 7-13 KO/TKOs, 1 SubmissionPro comp; Dominick Reyes (gentle)
How Elekana will fare within the UFC
On paper, Billy Elekana seems to be a superb signing for the UFC. After struggling his sole profession loss, he moved as much as the sunshine heavyweight division, the place he has since gone 3-0. Elekana boasts stable victories over respectable regional competitors, together with a notable beginner win in opposition to Bryan Battle. At simply 29 years previous, he’s getting into his athletic prime, making him a beautiful prospect for a division in want of contemporary expertise. With expertise in respected organizations like LFA, PFL, and as a Tuff-N-Uff beginner champion, Elekana brings a powerful basis and potential to make an impression within the UFC.
Watching Billy Elekana struggle will be one thing of a combined expertise. Standing at 6’2″ with a 77-inch attain, you’d count on extra athleticism and explosiveness from him, however these attributes appear to be missing. What he does nicely, nevertheless, is utilizing his size to regulate the middle of the cage successfully. Elekana switches stances sometimes however performs finest in orthodox, the place he showcases a stable lengthy jab, a pointy left kick to the physique, and a well-placed left excessive kick.
Regardless of these strengths, his greatest concern is his low quantity—relying closely on single strikes and prolonged durations of inactivity. Elekana thrives when opponents struggle at his tempo. If his adversary doesn’t apply constant stress, he’s content material to remain on the surface, choosing his pictures and sniping successfully. Nevertheless, in opposition to aggressive fighters who can disrupt his rhythm, he struggles to impose his recreation plan.
To beat Elekana, the secret is to press him backward, which has confirmed to be a comparatively simple technique previously. He struggles when pushed in opposition to the cage and has issue creating area to reset. This concern is compounded by his lack of quantity, which frequently makes him hesitant to interact proactively. Elekana depends on stable takedown protection as a pure striker to maintain the struggle standing. Whereas he has proven some vulnerability when backed in opposition to the cage, he makes use of it successfully to remain upright, combating for wrist management and underhooks.
Often, he’ll shoot for a takedown, however his floor recreation affords little upside, as his jiu-jitsu seems underdeveloped. But arguably his most important weak point is his cardio. Even together with his low exercise price, Elekana tends to gasoline out arduous after about 5 minutes. As soon as fatigued, he turns into a lot simpler to hit and struggles to take care of his protection or offensive output.
At gentle heavyweight, Elekana might discover success within the UFC, versus lighter weight lessons which might see his restricted skillset extra uncovered. He has a number of flaws in his recreation that make it troublesome to count on sustained success on the prime stage. To me, he doesn’t possess the standout instruments you sometimes search for in a promising 205-pound prospect, and his path ahead within the UFC stays unsure with out important enchancment.
How he matches up with Guskov:
Each fighters are prone to interact in a hanging battle, which performs to each of their strengths. They match up fairly evenly, however Guskov holds a transparent benefit in energy, whereas Elekana is the extra technical striker. Guskov doesn’t throw with the identical finesse as Elekana, however that won’t matter if Elekana doesn’t push the tempo.
I’m choosing Guskov for the win, primarily as a result of Elekana hasn’t confronted a fighter with Guskov’s energy but. Guskov is understood for being considerably chinny, although, so after the primary spherical, issues may begin to get unpredictable. Whereas I lean towards Guskov, I’m not assured on this choose given the potential for Elekana to discover a solution to exploit Guskov’s weaknesses.
