Brendan Allen achieves the most important victory of his career in UFC
In an action-packed night at UFC Fight Night Vancouver, middleweight Brendan Allen secured the most significant victory of his career by stopping Reinier de Ridder in the fourth round. Despite accepting the fight on short notice, Allen (26-7) kept his promise to defeat de Ridder (21-3). He dominated de Ridder on the ground, forcing his corner to throw in the towel between the fourth and fifth rounds. This result ended de Ridder’s four-fight winning streak in the UFC, which began last November. Originally, de Ridder was scheduled to face Anthony Hernandez, but Allen stepped in after Hernandez withdrew due to injury.Allen, originally from Louisiana, had a difficult start in the first round, but quickly changed the course. Although he suffered a takedown and spent a large part of the round defending submissions, he dominated the grappling exchanges in the second, third, and fourth rounds. According to UFC statistics, Allen accumulated more than 11 minutes of control time and connected 128 total strikes against de Ridder’s 51. De Ridder could barely stand at the end of the fourth round and struggled to return to his corner. Referee Jason Herzog closely examined de Ridder between rounds before his team made the decision to throw in the towel. Immediately after the fight, Allen called out UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, as well as former champions Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland, whom he lost to in 2020.“It feels good to do exactly what I said I would do,” Allen stated. “This was after 3.5 weeks out of the octagon. I told you guys I’m a different monster, when my mind is clear and I’m in shape, I’m the best in the world.”
Brendan Allen
Allen arrived at Saturday’s main event as the UFC’s number 9 middleweight. De Ridder was in the number 4 spot. In the co-main event, Canadian welterweight Mike Malott (13-2-1) secured a notable 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, buddy,” Allen said. “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
