Elenen rakip iddialıydı iddialı olmasına ama kafa kafaya bitirdik.

It means the opponent who was eliminated.

The key difference is:

• elenen = the one that got eliminated
• eleyen = the one that eliminated someone

So:

• elenen rakip = eliminated opponent
• eleyen rakip = eliminating opponent / the opponent who knocked someone out

This is a very common learner confusion, because the forms look similar.

In Turkish, participles usually come before the noun they describe.

So elenen rakip is literally something like:

• eliminated opponent

but it functions like:

• the opponent who was eliminated

English often uses a relative clause with who was, but Turkish often uses a participle instead.

Here iddialı most likely means something like:

• strong
• formidable
• a serious contender
• competitive

With rakip, it often suggests that the opponent was not weak and was seen as a real threat.

Depending on context, iddialı can also mean ambitious or confident, but with a competitor it usually has the sense of being a strong contender.

iddialıydı = iddialı + ydı

This means was strong / was a serious contender.

A few important points:

• iddialı is an adjective
• Turkish can use adjectives directly as predicates
• the past form of to be is added as -dı / -di / -du / -dü
• because iddialı ends in a vowel, a buffer y appears: iddialıydı

So:

• iddialı = ambitious / strong / a serious contender
• iddialıydı = was ambitious / was strong / was a serious contender

It is repeated because the sentence first makes a statement, then uses the same idea again in a concessive structure.

So the pattern is roughly:

• Rakip iddialıydı = The opponent was strong
• iddialı olmasına... = although it was strong...

This kind of repetition is normal in Turkish. It is not necessarily bad style. It often happens when a speaker first says something directly, then adds a though / although type comment.

So the repetition is serving grammar and emphasis, not just repeating the same word for no reason.

Very literally, olmasına comes from olmak and is part of a pattern that expresses concession.

In practice, X olmasına rağmen means:

• although it is X
• despite being X

So iddialı olmasına... is basically the beginning of:

• although it was strong
• despite being a strong contender

You do not need to analyze every piece each time, but if you want the breakdown:

• olma = being
• -sı = a possessive element used in this kind of clause
• -na = dative

Together, in this pattern, it works as part of a fixed structure meaning although / despite the fact that.

A more standard form would usually be:

• iddialı olmasına rağmen
• or simply iddialıydı ama

So yes, many learners will notice that iddialı olmasına ama feels a bit unusual or compressed.

It is understandable, but it sounds more like spoken, informal, slightly elliptical Turkish. The speaker seems to be doing something like:

• He was strong, strong though he was, but we still finished neck and neck

In cleaner written Turkish, you would normally choose one clearer connector:

• Elenen rakip iddialıydı ama kafa kafaya bitirdik.
• Elenen rakip iddialı olmasına rağmen kafa kafaya bitirdik.

Using both the olmasına... idea and ama together can sound redundant unless it is deliberately conversational.

kafa kafaya is an idiomatic expression meaning:

• head to head
• neck and neck
• evenly matched
• very close

It does not refer literally to heads. It is a fixed expression.

So kafa kafaya bitirdik means that the result ended up very close, with neither side clearly ahead.

Not always.

It often suggests that the two sides were extremely close or evenly matched. In some contexts it may imply a tie, but not necessarily a perfectly official draw.

If you want to say an exact draw more explicitly, Turkish often uses:

• berabere bitti
• berabere kaldık

So kafa kafaya bitirdik is more about the closeness of the result than about formally stating a draw.

Because Turkish usually leaves the subject pronoun out when the verb already shows it.

bitirdik has the ending -dik, which shows we.

So:

• bitirdim = I finished
• bitirdik = we finished

The sentence does not need biz unless the speaker wants extra emphasis.

Here, we probably means the speaker and their team, side, or group.

It is understandable, but it sounds somewhat spoken and compressed. A more polished version would usually be one of these:

• Elenen rakip iddialıydı ama kafa kafaya bitirdik.
• Elenen rakip iddialı olmasına rağmen kafa kafaya bitirdik.
• Elenen rakip iddialıydı; ama yine de kafa kafaya bitirdik.

Also, punctuation would help a lot in writing. Without pauses, the original sentence feels a little rushed.

So the original is not wrong in the sense of being incomprehensible, but it is more natural as conversational Turkish than as careful formal writing.