All in! Brendan Allen’s potential matchups after Craig win
Brendan Allen dominated Paul Craig last night in a one sided affair that saw Allen defeat the Scotsman by rear naked choke in round three. Now on a six fight winning streak, Allen eyes the future with massive matchups with title implications. But let’s not put the cart before the horse. Allen still has work to do. Here are three options for what could be next for the Louisiana native.
Khamzat Chimaev: The barn burner
This one is a massive long shot. Khamzat Chimaev is a superstar for the UFC and the promotion seems hellbent on getting him a title shot. Ranked eighth, Chimaev is not fighting down at all. But we can dream, can we?
Allen’s grappling is good and we saw in Chimaev’s last fight that his gas tank is a liability. If he gets a five round fight, he could be in major trouble. Allen has gone five rounds, albeit in LFA nearly four years ago.
If the UFC wants to develop Chimaev some more, they could take the “safer” fight (perceived as safer, Allen is a live dog in that fight) and book the Allen fight.
Brendan Allen aiming for the title: Robert Whittaker
Robert Whittaker is ranked third in the UFC’s middleweight division. But since 2022, he’s gone 1-2 with a win over Marvin Vettori and a loss to Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis respectively. Whittaker may be looking for fresh challenges and will likely have to fight down.
Brendan Allen will get a slight boost in the UFC rankings which could be enough to have him lure the former champion into a scrap. A win over Whittaker may get him the title shot of the winner between Sean Strickland and Du Plessis. We know a win over Whittaker can get you a title shot. He’s been that good.
Or a win over Whittaker could lure Chimaev into a fight, something that Allen wants. A title eliminator set up by a win over Whittaker is the best bet for Allen to get to a title.
Paulo Costa, mtfk
Paulo Costa may or may not still be fighting. That remains to be seen. After losing embarrassingly to Adesanya and then the wild fight lead up and loss to Marvin Vettori, Costa is in the back of the line. He won his last fight against Luke Rockhold, a close fought affair, but that was in 2022.
After all the shenanigans, the UFC may not actually like Costa right now. Since losing to Adesanya in 2020, Costa has pulled out of a fight with Whittaker, Jared Cannonier, and Khamzat Chimaev. He also missed weight against Vettori and forced a renegotiation for the fight to be at 205. He may have no choice but to fight down.
Should Brendan Allen, who is on a six fight win streak with five coming by rear naked choke, this could be the perfect opportunity to have “All In” fight the sixth ranked contender and put himself in the title picture. There should be no situation where Allen fights down with six fights straight in the green for him.
Also, Dana, get this man some purple and gold shorts! Geaux Tigers!
