Brendan Allen achieves the most important victory of his career in UFC
In an action-packed night at UFC Fight Night, UFC middleweight Brendan Allen secured the most significant victory of his career, defeating Reinier de Ridder in the fourth round in Vancouver. Despite accepting the fight with little notice, Allen (26-7) promised to defeat de Ridder (21-3), and he did. He consumed de Ridder on the canvas, 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 complicated start in the first round, but quickly turned the tables. Although he suffered a takedown in the first round and spent a large part of it defending submissions, he dominated the grappling exchanges in the second, third, and fourth rounds. Allen accumulated more than 11 minutes of control time and connected 128 total strikes against de Ridder’s 51, according to UFC statistics. 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 challenged UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, as well as former champions Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland, against whom he lost in 2020.“It feels good to do exactly what I said I would do. This was for me at 3.5 weeks off the couch. I told you guys 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 arrived at the main event on Saturday as the UFC’s number 9 middleweight. De Ridder was ranked number 4. 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, baby. Dricus, where are you? I’ve been trying to get you for a minute. If not, Sean, it’s time to run it back”.
Brendan Allen
