Brendan Allen Achieves the Most Important Victory of His Career at UFC Fight Night
In an action-packed night in Vancouver, UFC middleweight Brendan Allen secured the most significant victory of his career by stopping Reinier de Ridder in the fourth round. Allen, who accepted the fight on short notice, demonstrated his determination by dominating De Ridder and forcing his corner to throw in the towel. Allen, with a record of 26-7, fulfilled his promise to defeat De Ridder. The result ended De Ridder’s four-fight winning streak in the UFC. Originally, De Ridder was scheduled to face Anthony Hernandez, but Allen stepped in after Hernandez withdrew due to injury.The Louisiana fighter had a complicated start in the first round, but quickly changed the course of the fight. After defending submissions, Allen dominated the grappling exchanges in the following rounds, accumulating more than 11 minutes of control time and connecting 128 total strikes, compared to De Ridder’s 51, according to UFC statistics. De Ridder, visibly exhausted, could barely stand at the end of the fourth round, which led his team to make the decision to stop the fight. Immediately after the fight, Allen issued a challenge to UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, as well as former champions Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland, against whom he lost in 2020.“I feel good for doing exactly what I said I would do. This was for me at 3.5 weeks off the couch. I told you I’m a different monster, when I have a clear head and we’re on it, I’m the best in the world”
Brendan Allen
Allen, who entered Saturday’s main event as the UFC’s number 9 middleweight, proved his worth against De Ridder, ranked number 4. In the co-main event, Canadian welterweight Mike Malott (13-2-1) secured a high-profile victory over Kevin Holland (28-15) by decision. Aiemann Zahabi (14-2) continued to climb the bantamweight rankings with a decision victory over former champion Marlon Vera (23-11-1) by split decision.“Chimaev, if you want a good grappler, someone young and hungry, you got it, baby. Dricus, where are you? I’ve been trying to fight you for a minute. If not, Sean, it’s time to run it back”
Brendan Allen
