Andre Muniz and Brendan Allen stepped gracefully into the main event role of UFC Vegas 70 at the very last minute, after Nikita Krylov’s illness caused the original main event to be cancelled.
This battle of budding middleweights included a BJJ black belt ace with a specialty in armbars as Muniz recently submitted the legend Jacare Souza and others in the UFC. Brendan Allen also has a grappling background but has shown strong striking ability as well, making the unranked talent a risky fight for the ranked Muniz and his nine-fight winning streak.
Allen came out orthodox and Muniz southpaw for this three-round main event. They feinted at each other, testing the waters. For a time the only strikes landed were Allen leg kicks. Slowly they opened up and Allen landed a good right hand as he pressed forward. Muniz landed a straight of his own soon after, but Allen responded with a big right that wobbled the Brazilian against the fence. Allen stayed long and bounced in and out of range quickly when he opened up offensively.
Muniz landed a spinning back kick to the stomach midway through the round. Allen stayed on the front foot mostly and chipped away at the inside of the lead right leg of Muniz. Muniz landed a big left hand, his best shot, with around two minutes left but Allen ate it just fine. A few seconds later Muniz tried for his first takedown. He got very deep in on the hips but Allen was able to kick free from the single leg and escape. Allen ripped the body back at striking range before Muniz poked Allen’s eye, stopping the fight briefly. When action restarted, both fighters had little success before the end of the round.
Round two started with them trading body kicks. Both pressed forward at different times and landed. Allen tried a spinning backfist while pressing forward but it missed. He often got Muniz to the cage through methodical pressure but then got backed off by a singular Muniz explosion, even though they missed. Allen occasionally did trap him and land good strikes, as he did early in round two. Then Muniz nearly landed a takedown but when they hit the mat spinning, Allen was able to roll through and used the Brazilian’s momentum against him to end upon top in full guard. However, that was a dangerous place to be against Muniz, though Allen landed an elbow quickly upon settling the position.
Allen stayed low on top, trying to not give Muniz a chance to shoot up a submission. He did still hammer the body and head with punches and elbows. With one minute left in the round he really opened up and then passed to half guard and then side control, likely shocking many watching around the world. Allen worked from side control to isolate the far arm of Muniz while applying heavy shoulder pressure to the face and jaw of the man beneath him. In the final ten seconds of the round Muniz tried and failed to re-guard.
The final round began with scorecards ranging from a tie to Allen having won both rounds. The athletes embraced in the center and they got to it. Muniz’s coach had instructed him to strike with Allen, not go for the takedown unless he was 100% sure of it. Early on Muniz was able to land sneaky lead right hooks on Allen that stung him. Allen hardly threw a strike in the start of round three, but when he did explode finally he landed well. The fight was more cagey in this round. Allen blitzed forward and may have been caught because he fell to a knee before springing right up. Allen pressed forward but had trouble landing until the midway point when he landed three good shots.
With two minutes left in the round Allen shot for a single leg off of a caught kick. He lifted Muniz into the air and threw him onto his back, landing in side control. After thirty seconds he passed to mount and then worked to isolate a head and arm choke. Muniz turned so Brendan took the back, got both hooks in, and attacked a rear-naked choke. It was tight but Muniz was just able to push it over the jaw, clearing the choke. Allen worked to attack it again on the other side and with just thirty-five seconds left, the unranked Allen made the most highly touted jiu-jitsu fighter in the division submit.
He's literally trying to fight everybody 👊👀 #UFCVegas70 pic.twitter.com/rXH9fl9NRP
— UFC (@ufc) February 26, 2023
This finish, late in a fight where he seemed to be ahead, will no doubt propel Allen into the middleweight top-15 when rankings are updated on Tuesday. Muniz came into this fight ranked eleventh in the UFC, making this easily the biggest win of Brendan Allen’s career. The way he did it — winning as an underdog and beating his opponent in his own martial art — made it all the more impressive.
Official Result: Brendan Allen def. Andre Muniz by Submission (rear-naked choke) Round 3, 4:25
