Brendan Allen picked up a huge win at UFC on ESPN+ 27 in Norfolk, Virginia when he finished Tom Breese in the very first round via ground and pound. This was Allen’s second consecutive win in the UFC, bringing his record to 14-3 overall.
Two weeks removed from that win, we caught up with Allen, who had his beautiful newborn daughter in hand as he spoke about all things MMA. Our first question, however, had nothing to do with the sport. Rather, what it’s like being a new dad now?
“Dad life is great man, it makes me not even want to fight anymore sometimes, I don’t want to leave her,” Allen told Cageside Press. “I’m blessed to be able to stay here during the days and spend all this time with her.”
Don’t worry though, Allen’s far from done in his career. We also discussed the world wide COVID-19 pandemic, and Brendan gave his thoughts on this scary situation. “I think its more just the media outlook on stuff, I think overall there is gonna be one or two events canceled. But I hope not because it pushes everyone back as far as needing fights and the roster is already crowded. So hopefully business-wise it doesn’t because it will push my window of fighting back I would assume, and I definitely don’t want that.”
Teammates Emmanuel Sanchez and Jordan Newman were slated to fight at the Mohegan Sun Friday evening at Bellator 241. Allen didn’t seem too concerned about that event being cancelled, saying he hadn’t spoken to his teammates during the week but planned to talk after they made weight, and was hoping they did get to fight. However, a day after Bellator announced the event would move forward behind closed doors, Scott Coker made the decision to postpone the event. Fighters, however, were paid in full.
When asked about his most recent win over Breese, Brendan Allen said the following: “I felt good man, of course going in there and getting a win over a guy like Breese is always good, a win alone is always a great feeling. I wish we could have stood more, that’s what I was really looking forward to. To show the differences in my game but hey, the less I have to show the better for me.” As far as his gameplan went Brendan was very clear he wanted to knock his opponent out. “I wanted to put him to sleep with a punch, and that was my goal and I knew I would do it if he stood with me longer.” We also dove in to the UFC middleweight division and the upstart Allen feels very confident about his chances against anyone.
“I feel that I can break pretty much anybody in the division,” said Allen. “There’s only guys like [former champ] Robert Whittaker that I feel like you’re not really breaking him, he’s unbroken. Everyone else, I don’t really see anyone else that can’t be broken. I feel like most guys are really good at one thing and as soon as they can’t do that they start breaking and I feel the factors I bring to the table can break people.”
Brendan called out Trevin Giles in his post fight interview after dispatching of Breese and is still clamoring for another crack at Giles. “If I can’t fight my losses I want a top 15 guy. If I can’t have Trevin then hopefully I get Antonio Carlos Jr or Omari Akhmedov.” Continuing to dig about the Giles match-up, Allen revealed that Giles did respond. “He said he’d fight me in Austin if the matchmakers wanted it. I would like to fight Trevin on that card or at International Fight Week. Hopefully I can get on one of these cards that I really want to be on.”
Finally, we asked Allen what would happen if he got to rematch any of his three losses (Eryk Anders, Trevin Giles, Anthony Hernandez). That led to one of the strongest quotes I have heard in my four years working as an MMA journalist. “I finish all three of them. I would finish them all in the same night. If that was the only way I could get to fight and even if we had to put up purse for purse in the contract I would. That’s how serious and how confident I am.”
