UFC Vancouver: Brendan Allen full media day interview
UFC Fight Night 262 headliner Brendan Allen spoke to MMA Junkie and reporters at media day for his middleweight bout vs. Reinier de Ridder.
VANCOUVER – Brendan Allen believes Khamzat Chimaev should pump the brakes on champ-champ talk.
UFC middleweight champion Chimaev recently showed interest in moving up to light heavyweight to challenge Alex Pereira for a second title. However, Chimaev has yet to defend the 185-pound title he won by defeating Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319, and that doesn’t sit right with Allen (26-7 MMA, 13-4 UFC).
“I think that’s kind of like the story of Chimaev, right?” Allen told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “Like he just talks a lot. He gets a lot of eyes. It’s not to the degree, but it’s like Conor (McGregor) talking, talking, talking just to stay relative. Obviously, Chimaev’s not that bad, right? He doesn’t say that much stuff and that much reckless stuff, but I don’t know.
“I think he’s got a lot of work to do in our division first. It’s not like he’s a huge 85’er that’s cutting a lot like Alex was to get to 85 to where it’s like, ‘Alright, I became a champion, I defended once, let’s just go up.’ It’s weird, but I don’t think that’s in his future right now.”
The middleweight division has a contender waiting in Nassourdine Imavov, who is on a five-fight winning streak that includes wins over Allen, Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier, former champion Israel Adesanya, and most recently, Caio Borralho.
Allen, the promotion-ranked No. 9 middleweight, returns to action in the main event of UFC Fight Night 262 at Rogers Arena, filling in for Anthony Hernandez to face Reinier de Ridder. The winner of the original matchup was discussed as a potential option for the next title shot, but with Hernandez’s withdrawal, things may not be as clear now. All Allen can do is focus on getting past No. 4-ranked de Ridder (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and let the chips fall where they may.
“I think the champion has a little bit of say of who he fights next, not full say, obviously,” Allen said. “The UFC is gonna do what they wanna do, they’re the boss – but I think he has a little bit of pull. If I go out there, because he was talking so much about de Ridder, wanting to test his grappling and stuff against de Ridder, if I go out there and beat him definitively, you never know. He could say my name and the UFC could get it, but we’ll see.
“I’m just more focused on Saturday. I don’t care what happens with Imavov, I don’t care what happens with Chimaev, unless it’s about me. Right now, it’s Saturday, beating de Ridder, and doing it in impressive fashion.”
