Brendan Allen wins seven-straight, avenges loss to Chris Curtis in UFC Vegas 90 main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us today, April 6, 2024, for UFC Vegas 90, going down live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.
Headlining the event was a middleweight rematch between no. 6 ranked Brendan Allen (24-5) and no. 14 ranked Chris Curtis (31-11). Allen was originally slated to face no. 5 ranked former title challenger Marvin Vettori at this event; however, Vettori withdrew from the bout and was replaced by the last man to defeat him.
Brendan Allen came into the bout on a six-fight win streak showcasing five finishes, all five of which came via rear naked choke submission and came in having gone 11-2 inside the UFC octagon to date. His only promotional losses came to Curtis and Curtis’ teammate, former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, both of which TKO’d him in round two.
Chris Curtis on the other hand had gone 3-2 (1 NC) since their first encounter (5-2, 1 NC in the UFC) with wins over Rodolfo Vieira (UD), Joaquin Buckley (KO), and Marc-Andre Barriault, defeats to Jack Hermansson (UD) and Kelvin Gastelum (UD), and the no contest coming against Nassourdine Imavov.
Continue reading to see how our UFC Vegas 90 main event went down:
Official Result: Brendan Allen def. Chris Curtis via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 49-46)
Allen opened up the bout with a good round kick to the body of Curtis, before ducking under strikes coming his way and taking Curtis’ back. He held the position for a time, searching for the rear naked choke, Curtis eventually getting back to his feet where he controlled the octagons center through the remainder of the opening round.
Curtis controlled the center through much of the second as well, landing heavy punches while eating a few himself. Allen spun him around as he was coming in and landed some good strikes along the fence but was outstruck throughout the round.
Allen appeared to find his range in the third, catching Curtis as he was coming in on multiple occasions. He was however wobbled with a two-punch combination, Curtis following up with more boxing before landing a knee to the head, much like he did to secure the finish in their first fight. Allen secured a takedown just at the right moment and took Curtis’ back, holding the position for much of the rest of round three.
Curtis landed a left cross-right hook to the body early on in the fourth that appeared to have an effect on Allen, who shot in on and secured another double leg takedown following. He proceeded to take Curtis’ back, Curtis of which turned into him and got back to his feet. Allen landed a heavy right elbow and a good right head kick shortly after, before securing another takedown, once again taking the back of Curtis.
Allen capitalized when Curtis tried to spin into him this time, securing mount and holding the position until the bell sounded.
Curtis stuffed a number of takedown attempts through the opening half of the fifth and final round, Allen appearing more and more exhausted after each fail. He ended up circling to Curtis’ back after another attempt about three minutes in, taking his back for a time before Curtis again spun out and got back to his feet.
Allen came in with a barrage of heavy strikes as the bout came to a close, just barely stealing the round.
Brendan Allen has now won seven-straight fights inside the UFC’s middleweight division, avenging one of his only two promotional defeats in the process. This was a tough one for him, but he pulled through in the first fight of his UFC career to go the full five rounds.
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