Brendan Allen Has Earned the Right to Fight for UFC Gold

The main event, and most consequential matchup, of UFC Vegas 122 saw a battle of middleweight contenders. Brendan Allen has made himself known as a legit middleweight contender entrenched in the title picture. But on this night, he was fighting down in the rankings against Christian Leroy Duncan, who has made his own rise up the ranks and entered on a five-fight win streak.

And now, after what he endured to come out on top, and what he’s done on his current four-fight win streak, it’s time for Allen to receive a major opportunity in his next matchup.

Duncan actually got a head start on Allen to begin the fight, using his clinching to press Allen to the fence. Allen managed to score a takedown a couple of minutes in to gain control back, but that didn’t last. Allen and CLD both landed hard shots late in the first round, but a spinning elbow and follow-up shots appeared to do some early damage to Allen.

CLD got back on his strikes during round two, but Allen scored a takedown. And it was there that Allen’s grappling prowess showed, as Duncan could not find a way out of Allen’s top pressure. Allen controlled the action for most of round two in that position.

Allen looked to get back to work with his grappling at the start of round three. But CLD, primarily known for his striking, ended up reversing position on Allen, getting on top of the grappling expert. But instead of working his way back to the feet, CLD ended up looking for a submission. He’d pay for this error, as Allen got back on top.

The rest of the third then played similarly to the first, until CLD got to his feet with about 90 seconds left in the round. CLD then stuffed another Allen takedown attempt that followed.

Duncan, though tiring, also saw fatigue on Allen’s part. He took advantage of that and used his striking to get back into the fight, potentially setting up a winner-take-all final round.

Fortunately for Allen, he would not need the judges’ scorecards.

Allen got CLD back to the fence, scored a takedown, and locked up a deep rear-naked choke to score the submission win in the fifth.

This now marks four straight wins for Allen, and this showing earned him a Performance of the Night bonus. His win streak has also seen him earn Fight of the Night honors against Edmen Shahbazyan and Marvin Vettori. Furthermore, he should receive flowers for the way that he took a fight with Reinier de Ridder on short notice last year – when RdR should have been in a title eliminator – and made him quit on the stool after four rounds.

Allen called out Dricus Du Plessis for his next fight. That might be the perfect kind of fight for him – a win over DDP, a former champion, would surely grant him a title opportunity the fight after.

Heck, one could say he could be eligible for a title shot now, but we’re currently dealing with a situation where the middleweight champ, Sean Strickland, seems to be at odds with the UFC.

Regardless of what happens to Strickland and the championship, Allen’s next fight must be either for the title or a title eliminator. He’s earned the right to a big fight.