Beatdown: Elkins, Jansen, WSOF Matchmaker Abdel-Aziz

TJ De Santis and Jeff Sherwood returned to the Sherdog Radio Network Monday for another live edition of “Beatdown.” Joining them were fighters Darren Elkins, Bellator tournament winner Dave Jansen, and World Series of Fighting matchmaker Ali Abdelaziz.

Darren Elkins returns to the UFC’s octagon on January 25th when the promotions returns to Fox in Chicago, Illinois. The featherweight joined De Santis and Sherwood to discuss his upcoming match with Jeremy Stephens. Elkins breaks down the match, where a win will put him inside the 145-pound title hunt, and who he feels will prove victorious at UFC 169 when Jose Aldo faces Ricardo Lamas for the featherweight crown.

Dave Jansen enjoyed a stellar 2012 inside the Bellator cage. “The Fugitive” won three fights including two-thirds of a tournament. The finals came against Marcin Held in March of 2013 after an injury delayed the contest. Jansen returned with a victory over Held punching his ticket to a title shot against then champion Michael Chandler. Unfortunately for Jansen an ACL injury forced him off of the card and put the title shot on hold. Jansen joined “Beatdown” Monday to talk about his injury, the recovery period, and where he is at on a return to active competition. The Sports Lab product also discusses his division that has had a shake up at the top with Eddie Alvarez reclaiming the lightweight title.

World Series of Fighting matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz has made headlines in the last week for his comments and challenge directed at Bellator MMA. The former manager turned matchmaker released a fantasy card matching WSOF stars with Bellator stars. Abdel-Aziz joined TJ and Jeff to talk about that challenge, the waves it has caused, and if he feels cross-promotions is a real possibility in mixed martial arts. Ali also discusses Saturday night’s WSOF 8 card in Hollywood, Florida.

TJ and Jeff continue to take listener calls, emails, and 2014 predictions on the broadcast. They also look to crown a winner for the 2013 prediction contest. The guys also discuss Wednesday night’s UFC Fight Night card, fighters not wanting to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Sherdog.com’s year-end awards.

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