Nine months after Max Holloway ended his perfect UFC run in the Briton’s first main event matchup, #3 ranked featherweight contender Arnold Allen looks to derail Movsar Evloev’s unbeaten streak during the first PPV card of 2024. Considering the 29-year-old’s title ambitions, he can’t afford to slip up against one of the division’s dark horses – whether the Russian has a big name or not.
Allen heaps praise on Evloev, wanted Ortega matchup
Arnold Allen [3] vs. Movsar Evloev [9]
Three-round featherweight fight on UFC 297 main card
January 20 in Toronto, first PPV event of 2024
UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena is set to be headlined by new middleweight champion Sean Strickland as he makes his first championship defence against Robert Whittaker’s recent conqueror Dricus du Plessis.
Yet there’s a featherweight clash on the main card that promises to be worth watching, between two of the division’s danger men with a point to prove for different reasons. Evloev wants the Diego Lopes experience out of his mind, while Allen wants redemption after a competitive-but-frustrating defeat last time out.
Allen (19-2 MMA, 10-1 UFC) faces Evloev (17-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in a matchup between #3 and #9 at 145lbs, at a time where the featherweight landscape remains in flux.
Alexander Volkanovski will begin his fifth year as titlist, but Ilia Topuria (#5, 14-0 and 6-0 UFC) is a very real threat to the Australian’s throne – especially after twice being humanised by Islam Makhachev at lightweight in different circumstances.
Allen made it clear he wanted to face a more notable name than Evloev after a spirited defeat against Holloway, during a performance that garnered praise from UFC chief Dana White, even though he felt the corner work let him down.
Rewind and read:
Holloway halts Allen’s mammoth win streak, so now we wait
Calvin Kattar calls Holloway-Allen a true #1 contender fight – he’s right
At the time, Dana said:
“I think Allen looked incredible, his first big night ever in a main event, whole crowd’s against him and he came on too late. If he had fought the way he did in the fifth from the third round on, he would’ve had a better chance to win. I’m not a corner man or coach but yeah, should’ve been a sense of urgency earlier.”
Former interim champion Brian Ortega hasn’t fought since suffering a freak shoulder injury during round one in his main event matchup against Yair Rodriguez last summer, so the promotion wanted to rebook that when both were fully healthy.
Rodriguez has fought twice this year in his absence, starching Josh Emmett in Australia to win the interim belt himself before being finished a round later by Volkanovski for full championship gold five months afterwards.
Allen acknowledges it makes sense, while citing the Fight Matrix rankings as having more credence than the promotional alternative given the detail that goes into their weekly-updated statistics covering multiple promotions.
On Evloev, he said this during an interview last week: “He’s very highly touted, I think there was some easier fights with higher-ranked guys. He’s a very credible opponent and the rankings are kind of chosen, aren’t they? So if you go on the official rankings – Fight Matrix – he’s much higher than they have him.
It’s a tough test and I think beating an undefeated guy, taking his hype and record away is a lot bigger than beating a No. 3 guy on a skid or something.”
Top 10, comparison
FM:
Volkanovski, Holloway, Rodriguez, Topuria, Allen, Emmett, Chikadze, Kattar, Evloev, Barboza — Ortega omitted from the rankings due to inactivity
UFC:
Volkanovski, Holloway, Rodriguez, Allen and Ortega joint-third, Topuria, Emmett, Kattar, Chikadze, Evloev and Bryce Mitchell
Allen won’t have to worry about a need to pace himself for championship rounds against Evloev, who has gone the 15-minute distance in each of his seven UFC fights to date and won them all – besides Lopes – with relative ease.
Instead he’ll need to be patient but find defensive openings to exploit in their stand-up exchanges, with the Brazilian’s blueprint an interesting one he might be inclined to follow, assuming he believes in his jiu-jitsu skills to take the fight down the ground.
UFC 297 card, is as follows
Card order TBC
Middleweight: Sean Strickland (c) vs. Dricus du Plessis [2]
Featherweight: Arnold Allen [3] vs. Movsar Evloev [9]
Women’s Bantamweight: Raquel Pennington [2] vs. Mayra Bueno Silva [3]
Light-heavyweight: Dominick Reyes [14] vs. Carlos Ulberg
Welterweight: Neil Magny [13] vs. Mike Malott
Middleweight: Chris Curtis [13] vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
Featherweight: Charles Jourdain vs. Sean Woodson
Women’s Strawweight: Gillian Robertson vs. Polyana Viana
Flyweight: Malcolm Gordon vs. Jimmy Flick
Women’s Flyweight: Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Priscila Cachoeira
Bantamweight: Brad Katona vs. Garrett Armfield
Bantamweight: Serhiy Sidey vs. Ramos Taveras
Welterweight: Yohan Lainesse vs. Sam Patterson
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via mmajunkie and hyperlinked
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