UFC APEX – UFC middleweight Brendan Allen isn’t impressed by the division’s new champion, but he’s got a fight in front of him this Saturday at UFC Vegas 90 when he faces Chris Curtis.
“I think he (Dricus du Plessis) was given that. I don’t think he took it from the champion,” Allen told reporters on Wednesday.
“In my eyes you need to take the belt from the champion. I think a prime example is Sean (Strickland) versus Izzy (Israel Adesanya). Was it a five-round fight? And he gave it to him the whole time, yes. Did he finish him, no, but he still took it.”
Allen (23-5) gave Strickland props for dominating Adesanya to win the title, but he didn’t see the same when du Plessis won the belt.
“There was no debating the fact that he beat Izzy. I don’t think you can say the same for Sean and (Dricus), but you know. If I get my opportunity, which obviously someone’s going to have it before me, I think it’s an easy night in the office,” he said.
“I don’t mean easy as it’s a walk in the park. Every fight is a fight, anything can happen, but as far as stylistically on the matchup…he has what everyone else has. A puncher’s chance. He beats me nowhere else.”
At UFC Vegas 90 he’ll face Curtis in a rematch that he badly wants to get back. Curtis finished him in late 2021, and Allen is looking for payback. He was originally set to face Marvin Vettori, but an injury forced Vettori to withdraw.
“I think Chris is a lot more technically capable in the striking realm. He’s been around a long time fought a lot of good guys. He’s game as they come,” he said.
“How he approaches the fight, his IQ is better, he’s got better technical abilities in my opinion. I would say Chris is a lot tougher test than Marvin is.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Brendan Allen. Allen headlines UFC Vegas 90 against Chris Curtis on Saturday night.
