Arnold Allen and Movsar Evloev locked horns in a main card featherweight showdown at UFC 297, in a key fight for the 145lb division.
Evloev, a former M-1 champ, entered the night a perfect 17-0, with the only real criticism of his UFC run being his inability to find the finish. “Almighty” Allen, for his part, was looking to bounce back from a loss to Max Holloway, but still held onto the #4 ranking in the division.
Allen was able to find his range early in the stand up and with that, an early striking edge. Evloev went in on a shot with around 3 minutes left in the round and Allen displayed stellar takedown defence to get away from the Russian, Canadians were very much behind the englishman, with chants of “Allen” bellowing around the Scotiabank Arena. Evloev changed levels and was able to get Allen down, and Allen tried rolling but he couldn’t get away from Evloev’s gorilla-like grip. Evloev’s effective grappling and repeated flooring of Allen in the last minute, helped him potentially steal the first round from Allen.
Evloev remained patient in the second round, and two minutes into the round, Evloev exploded into a shot and got Allen down. While Allen was able to get up, he couldn’t get the surging contender off of him. Within the last minute of a hotly contested second round, Evloev landed a heavy step-in jab that stunned Allen, and cut him open below his left eye. Allen’s corner made him aware that he needed a finish, and wanted him to get close the distance on Evloev and make it a phone-booth fight on the feet in the 3rd and final round.
Evloev started to play the game, taking his hand on and off the canvas, after a well defended shot and Allen kneed Evloev multiple times. Marc Goddard stepped in to bring in the ringside physician to have a look at the cut on Evloev, but it wasn’t serious enough for Allen to have a point taken. Evloev went in on a shot and Allen latched on to his patented ninja-choke, but Evloev was able to scramble out of it.
Once the final bell rung, we were able to get a clear look at Allen’s comprimised eye, and it was purple, and swollen shut. Movsar moved to 18-0, and into the top 5 of the featherweight division. All eyes on the UFC298 main event for Evloev, he could be the next challenger for the Featherweight crown.
Official Result- Movsar Evloev defeats Arnold Allen via Unanimous Decision (29-28 x3)
