Matthews vs Flowers

Who won Matthews vs Flowers?

Jake Matthews beat Darrius Flowers by submission in the 2nd round during the prelims of UFC 291, on Saturday 29th July 2023 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 3 rounds in the Welterweight division, which meant the weight limit was 170 pounds (12.1 stone or 77.1 KG).

Matthews vs Flowers stats

Jake Matthews stepped into the octagon with a record of 18 wins, 6 losses and 0 draws, 5 of those wins coming by the way of knock out and 7 by submission.

Darrius Flowers made his way to the cage with a record of 11 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw, 7 of those wins coming by knock out and 1 by submission.

Jake Matthews' UFC record stood at 12-7-0, while Darrius Flowers' came in at 0-2-0.

The stats suggested Flowers had a massive power advantage over Matthews, boasting a 64% knock out percentage over Matthews' 28%.

If the fight went to the ground, their records suggested Matthews had a large advantage over Flowers, boasting a 39% submission rate over Flowers' 9%.

Jake Matthews was the same age as Darrius Flowers, at 29 years old.

Matthews had a height advantage of 2 inches over Flowers. Despite this, both fighters had equal reach.

Matthews was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 7 more fights, and made his debut in 2012, 4 years and 5 months earlier than Flowers, whose first professional fight was in 2017. He had fought 22 more professional rounds, 59 to Flowers' 37.

Activity check

In terms of activity leading into the fight, Darrius Flowers had been fighting more than Jake Matthews.

Going to this contest, Jake Matthews had last fought 5 years, 4 months and 25 days ago, while Darrius Flowers' last outing had been 1 year, 11 months and 20 days ago.

Matthews' last 3 fights had come over a period of 6 years, 5 months and 8 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 2 years, 1 month and 22 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 9 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 3 rounds on average.

Flowers' last 3 fights had come over a period of 5 years, 2 months and 11 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year, 8 months and 24 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 4 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 1.3 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Matthews vs Flowers?

Jake Matthews was a 9/25 (-280) favourite going into the contest, while Darrius Flowers made his way into the ring at 9/4 (+230) with oddsmakers.