Arnold Allen nearly didn’t make it to UFC 304.
Allen recently got back on the winning track, taking a unanimous decision victory over Giga Chikadze on the main card of UFC 304. The event garnered some headlines because though it took place in Manchester, England, the card still started at the normal time for the United States audience, meaning the fighters competed in the very early morning hours of Sunday. And apparently that time situation nearly had dire consequences for Allen.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Allen explained that during his training camp he attempted to acclimate to fighting in the early morning hours by training late in the evening, but a week before the event, that almost cost him dearly when he got into a car accident.
“After my last sparring, I was driving home because the time was f*cked up,” Allen said. “I underslept that day because my team — there was an event that night and people were fighting, so my team had to train earlier, so I came into sparring earlier. I was driving home half asleep and I spun my car out, and crashed it into a barrier somewhere. That was on the way home after my last sparring. I was so tired, and it was pretty scary, I was facing the wrong way on the motorway.
“You don’t ever want to see the cars coming at you. I’ve been driving since I was 19, that was my first crash. Definitely not ideal the Saturday before your fight, a few days out.”
Ultimately, Allen was uninjured from the incident, and though he still had some issues with his sleep schedule during fight week, he was able to power through and get the win. But now that everything is over, Allen hopes UFC doesn’t make this the new standard when they come to England.
“It was fine,” Allen said. “No one got hurt, didn’t hit anyone else, damaged my car a bit, and it was 100 percent because I was half asleep, stupid. I was rushing home trying to get back to bed. So hopefully I never do that again because that sucked, and I damaged my car, which I’m pissed off about.”
