After scoring a jaw dropping, knockout win over Rony “Jason” at UFC Fight Night 32, Jeremy Stephens has been rewarded with a fight against a top ten ranked featherweight next. According to multiple reports, “Lil Heathen” and the #10 ranked Darren Elkins have agreed to fight at UFC on FOX 10, which will go down at Chicago’s United Center.
Stephens (22-9) moved to 2-0 as a featherweight with his head kick win over “Jason” on November 9th, as prior to that, the 27 year-old worked his way to a unanimous decision win over Estevan Payan at UFC 160. (If you missed it, “Jason” did not take the loss well and brutalized a door backstage; the attack earned him a 30 day suspension…)
The victories likely saved Stephens’ UFC job, as before moving down to 145, the feared striker had lost consecutive fights to lightweights Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis and Yves Edwards. The loss to Edwards was via knockout. The Alliance MMA fighter has gone 6-4 in his last ten scraps.
Elkins (17-3) rebounded from his UFC on FOX 7, knockout loss to Chad Mendes recently, by handing Hatsu Hioki a unanimous decision defeat at UFC FN 28 in August. The 29 year-old Elkins has somewhat quietly put together an impressive 7-2 record since arriving in the UFC, which includes wins over veterans like Michihiro Omigawa, Diego Brando and Antonio Carvalho.
The Elkins-Stephens fight hasn’t been announced by the UFC, however, both NWI.com and FOX Sports.com are reporting the featherweights have agreed to fight.
So, that’s a nice way to get the UFC on FOX 10 card going, which has not had it’s headliner announced yet.
Stay tuned to Fightline.com for all your MMA news and coverage.
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