Billy Elekana, UFC 311 ceremonial weigh-in Credit score: Gabriel Gonzalez/Cageside Press
One in all 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 high 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 file 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 strong victories over respectable regional competitors, together with a notable beginner win towards Bryan Battle. At simply 29 years previous, he’s coming into his athletic prime, making him a gorgeous prospect for a division in want of recent expertise. With expertise in respected organizations like LFA, PFL, and as a Tuff-N-Uff beginner champion, Elekana brings a robust basis and potential to make an impression within the UFC.
Watching Billy Elekana battle may be one thing of a combined expertise. Standing at 6’2″ with a 77-inch attain, you’d anticipate extra athleticism and explosiveness from him, however these attributes appear to be missing. What he does effectively, nonetheless, is utilizing his size to manage the middle of the cage successfully. Elekana switches stances often however performs finest in orthodox, the place he showcases a strong lengthy jab, a pointy left kick to the physique, and a well-placed left excessive kick.
Regardless of these strengths, his largest problem is his low quantity—relying closely on single strikes and prolonged durations of inactivity. Elekana thrives when opponents battle at his tempo. If his adversary doesn’t apply constant strain, he’s content material to remain on the skin, selecting his photographs and sniping successfully. Nonetheless, towards aggressive fighters who can disrupt his rhythm, he struggles to impose his recreation plan.
To beat Elekana, the secret’s to press him backward, which has confirmed to be a comparatively easy technique prior to now. He struggles when pushed towards the cage and has problem creating house to reset. This problem is compounded by his lack of quantity, which regularly makes him hesitant to interact proactively. Elekana depends on strong takedown protection as a pure striker to maintain the battle standing. Whereas he has proven some vulnerability when backed towards the cage, he makes use of it successfully to remain upright, combating for wrist management and underhooks.
Sometimes, 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 fee, Elekana tends to fuel 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 could 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 tough to anticipate sustained success on the high stage. To me, he doesn’t possess the standout instruments you usually 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 have interaction in a placing 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 will not matter if Elekana doesn’t push the tempo.
I’m selecting Guskov for the win, primarily as a result of Elekana hasn’t confronted a fighter with Guskov’s energy but. Guskov is thought 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 decide given the potential for Elekana to discover a option to exploit Guskov’s weaknesses.
