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Brett Okamoto
UFC middleweight Brendan Allen turned in the biggest win of his career Saturday, stopping Reinier de Ridder in the fourth round at UFC Fight Night in Vancouver.
Despite accepting the fight on short notice, Allen (26-7) swore he would break de Ridder (21-3) and did exactly that. He exhausted de Ridder on the ground and forced de Ridder’s corner to throw in the towel between the fourth and fifth rounds.
The result snapped de Ridder’s four-fight winning streak in the UFC, which began last November. He was originally supposed to face Anthony Hernandez, but Allen stepped up after Hernandez withdrew due to injury.
“It feels good to do exactly what I said I would do,” Allen said. “This was me 3.5 weeks off the couch. I told you I’m a different monster, when my head is clear and we’re on, I’m the best in the world.”
Allen, of Louisiana, got off to a difficult start in the first round, but quickly turned the tables after that. He gave up a takedown in the first and spent much of the round defending submissions, but he dominated the grappling exchanges in the second, third and fourth. Allen banked over 11 minutes of control time and landed 128 total strikes to 51 for de Ridder, according to UFC Stats.
De Ridder could barely stand at the end of the fourth round and struggled to make it back to his corner. Referee Jason Herzog took a close look at de Ridder between rounds before his team ultimately made the call to throw in the towel. Immediately after the bout, Allen called out UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, as well as former champions Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland, whom he lost to in 2020.
“Chimaev, if you want a good grappler, someone young and hungry, you got it baby,” Allen said. “Dricus, where you at? I’ve been trying to get at you for a minute. If not, Sean, it’s time to run it back.”
Allen went into Saturday’s main event as the UFC’s No. 9-ranked middleweight. De Ridder was No. 4.
In the co-main event, Canadian welterweight Mike Malott (13-2-1) picked up a high-profile win over Kevin Holland (28-15) via decision.
Aiemann Zahabi (14-2) continued to climb the bantamweight ranks with a decision win over former title challenger Marlon Vera (23-11-1) via split decision.