Movsar Evloev remains undefeated with impressive victory over Arnold Allen at UFC 297
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, January 20, 2024, for UFC 297, going down live from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Headlining the event is a middleweight title bout between Sean Strickland (28-5) and no. 2 ranked Dricus du Plessis (20-2).
Co-headlining the event is also a championship affair, this one coming in the bantamweight division between no. 2 ranked former title challenger Raquel Pennington (15-8) and no. 3 ranked Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1) 1 NC.
Our feature fight of the evening comes at 170 lbs between no. 13 ranked Neil Magny (28-11) and Canada’s own Mike Malott (10-1-1).
Opening up the main card tonight was a featherweight affair between no. 4 ranked Arnold Allen (19-3) and no. 9 ranked Movsar Evloev (18-0).
Tristar prospect Arnold Allen went a perfect 10-0 through his first ten fights in the UFC since debuting for the promotion in 2015, up until his most recent appearance where he lost to former champion Max Holloway last April.
American Top Team stud Movsar Evloev on the other hand, following his claim and three defenses of the M-1 Challenge bantamweight championship, had since gone 7-0 up at 145 lbs inside the octagon leading up to tonight’s encounter.
Continue reading to see how this matchup of 29-year-old contenders went down:
Official Result: Movsar Evloev def. Arnold Allen via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Evloev opens up the bout with a solid round kick to the body, before Allen starts to get his jab going. Allen lands two good left crosses to the body midway through the opening round and stuffs Evloev’s initial takedown attempt.
Evloev is however able to secure a takedown toward the end of round one, securing back-to-back mat returns immediately following.
Allen gets back to his striking in the second, defending two beautifully thrown head kicks. Evloev continues to have success with his wrestling in the second however, and even lands a flying knee midway through the round.
Evloev also lands a nasty jab that drops Allen and follows up with a series of punches followed by another takedown, where he mauled Allen toward the end of the middle stretch.
Allen lands a hard three-punch combination to begin the third and final round, winning the early goings of it with his striking. Evloev shoots on a takedown, which Allen stuffs and immediately following lands a series of illegal knees. Luckily the bout wasn’t stopped and the two continue with 3:09 left on the clock.
Evloev shoots on several takedown attempts but isn’t able to secure a single one, it appeared Allen made the correct adjustment after being taken down at will in the second.
Evloev shoots in on another takedown with just over one minute left on the clock and gets stuck in a ninja choke. Though he was in trouble for a second there he twists his way out of it and ends up on top. Allen is eventually able to return to his feet but it’s too late.
After watching his last fight with Diego Lopes, we know it’s incredibly tough to submit Movsar Evloev.
The no. 9 ranked Russian stud will most likely take that no. 4 spot in the rankings come next week, as he remains undefeated tonight at UFC 297 with a very impressive victory over Arnold Allen.
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