Darren Elkins to retire at UFC Vegas 120: 'You can only do this for so much of your life

LAS VEGAS – "This is it, brother."

Those were the first words out of Darren Elkins' mouth after he took to the stage at Meta APEX on Wednesday and made it officially official. A bit more weathered and sporting a few more scars than the 25-year-old who made his promotional debut vs. Duane Ludwig at UFC on Versus 1 in March 2010, Elkins (29-12 MMA, 19-11 UFC) said his time has come.

"I'm older in age now," Elkins told MMA Junkie and other reporters. "But mostly I'm starting to get hurt a little bit more often. Getting to train all the time is taking more of a toll on my body than it used to. It's time. I've been contemplating it for a while. I just talked to my family, worked it all out. I'm like, 'I've always wanted to lay my gloves in the octagon and do it where most people don't get that chance. They either get cut, or they just have to say on social media that they retired. I wanted it to be in the moment, lay my gloves down, and ride off into the sunset."

Elkins, 42, is one of the promotion's longest-tenured roster members. He'll put a bow on a near-20-year professional fighting career Saturday when he makes the final walk to the cage to battle Yadier del Valle (10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) in a three-round featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night 284 .

While some fighters might be nostalgic and emotional, Elkins said he's more appreciative and grateful than anything else. The sport has come a long way, and Elkins is proud to have evolved with it.

"It wasn't that tough (to make this decision)," Elkins said. "I stuck around longer than I thought. If you told 22-year-old Darren who just started fighting that you'd be doing this when you're 42 years old, I would've laughed at you. But here I am, blessed to be doing something I still love to do."

"... Man, it's been fun. There have been some downs. There have been some ups. But dang, I never thought I'd be doing this for a living for this long. It was cool to see the evolution of the game and be a part of the evolution. I started over 16 years ago. The reason I'm still here is because I kept on evolving my game. I could be proud about it. I see a lot of guys who stopped evolving, and that's usually when they get kicked out of the UFC. They start losing. I knew I had to put on entertaining fights and keep evolving."

Elkins remembers the days when training would consist of a few instructions and then hard sparring – every day. The physical toll that regimen takes on the human body would not be recommended in today's training plans. The silver lining was that Elkins learned not to quit and built a signature toughness that will go down in the history books. Time and time again, Elkins willed his way to victory, no matter how big of an underdog he was or how much blood he spilled to get there.

"Obviously, the fight I'm most known for is the (Mirsad) Bektic fight, right?" Elkins said when asked about his favorite memories. "I learned a lot about myself. I always knew I could dig deep. But how deep? How much I could dig? How tough I really was? Just coming back and knocking him out like that. That was a huge moment for me. I always look back at the Diego Brandao moment. I was a nobody. I was in the UFC. I think I was 2-1. I had two boring fights I won. I actually broke one guy's leg that ended in 30 seconds, and then I had a boring fight that I put on. Nobody gave me the time of day. They thought Diego Brandao was going to be the next big thing. Everybody thought he was going to be a champion. I came out there and I beat him right after he won 'The Ultimate Fighter.' That was the push I needed to really get my career going."

Saturday's bout marks the first competition for Elkins since an April 2025 first-round knockout loss to Julian Erosa. Injuries took time to heal. When it came time to give it another go, Elkins said he made the decision to go out on his own terms.

"My last fight didn't go exactly how I wanted it," Elkins said. "I thought it was a really bad fight. I had a lot of injuries going into that fight. That's why I've been out for so long, just recovering. I knew I was going to do this fight. If I was going to do this fight, I'm going to feel good so I can fight really well. It's one of those things. I have other options. It's sad, but a lot of these guys think that fighting is the only thing I can do in life. We got other options in life. I'm a union pipe fitter. I've done 10 years of pipe fitting while I was fighting. I always knew I was going to be OK. Was it scary? Yeah, life is scary. I don't want to go back to working a full-time job. I probably won't go full-time, but I like staying busy. I like making money. I like providing for my family. I don't want to take so much damage that it's going to be hard to coach my son and do other things. We sat down and talked about it and said, 'It's time to move on.'"

Elkins said he's comfortable in life, though if he's able to add a $100,000 bonus to his bank account Saturday, he'll certainly take it. While he's leaving the door open for no-strike competitions such as RAF or grappling bouts, fight fans can rule out any talk of bareknuckle boxing in his future.

"No, that's not my style, bro," Elkins laughed. "I'd probably die. My MMA fights are bloody. Can you imagine me in that? No, I promised my wife I wouldn't even look at that place."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Darren Elkins to retire at UFC Vegas 120: 'You can only do this for so much of your life'

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