Brendan Allen accepted Nassourdine Imavov in Paris, but has now changed his mind because it's not the main event.
Brendan Allen accepted an offer to face Nassourdine Imavov in Paris, but now has second thoughts about the location.
Allen (24-5 MMA, 12-2 UFC) revealed that the UFC offered him a matchup vs. Imavov (14-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night on Sept. 28 at Accor Arena in Paris, France and he agreed.
However, upon hearing that Benoit Saint Denis vs. Renato Moicano is five rounds and potentially headlining the card, the rising middleweight contender now refuses to travel half way across the world.
“This is for everyone that’s been asking me what’s up, when I’m fighting next,” Allen said on his Instagram story (h/t MMA Orbit). “Two weeks ago, they said Imavov in Paris, I said yes. I said I want to be the main event because I’ve main event’d three in a row, won all three, I’m going into enemy territory. If we are going to do it for all the risk, all the gain, let’s go, main event. Next thing you know we see BSD-Moicano are main event. I ain’t f*cking going all the way to Paris for these two dudes to go over me.
“One dude is coming off a loss, the other one barely wins, bro. Nah, I’m not with it. So Imavov, if you want to fight, you want this work, come on over to America, we’ll get it done. There is no way that we should be below these guys. I know it’s ‘The Ultimate Followers Championship,’ but even though they got the followers, just put them on the card, people are going to come anyway. Imavov, you want to fight, you want to get this done, if it’s just me you want to fight, come over to America and we’ll get it done.”
Three of Allen’s past four fights have been octagon headliners. He’s notched wins over Andre Muniz, Paul Craig, and Chris Curtis. The 28-year-old is on a seven-fight winning streak, and is No. 10 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie middleweight rankings.
