Tag: Arnold Allen

Arnold Allen opens up on UFC 297 loss to Movsar Evloev: ‘I just felt like I deserved to win that’

A frustrated Arnold Allen thinks he should have gotten his hand raised against Movsar Evloev.

A frustrated [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] thinks he should have gotten his hand raised against [autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag].

Allen (19-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) lost a unanimous decision to undefeated Evloev (18-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) on the main card of UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

All three judges awarded Evloev Rounds 1 and 2, but Allen disagrees.

“Everyone’s saying (I won) Round 1 and Round 3. I agree,” Allen said on his YouTube channel. “That’s what I felt, too. I felt after Round 1, I was like, ‘Yup, won that one.’ Round 2, no I f*cked that one up. And Round 3, that was mine. Very, very, very, very, very frustrating. Not the way I wanted to start things off (in 2024). … I just felt like I deserved to win that.

“I don’t want to be b*tching and moaning or anything like that. No ill will against his team or the opponent. I watched it back a few times. I wanted to watch it back before I gave a video saying how I felt. I didn’t want to be like, ‘I felt like I got 1 and 3’ just on the base that everyone else said it, and that’s what I felt immediately after.”

In Round 3, Allen had Evloev in a front headlock and landed three consecutive knees. As the knees landed, Evloev was elevating his left hand up and down the canvas. Referee Marc Goddard deemed the knees illegal and called timeout. Allen wasn’t deducted a point but he thought the knees he landed, which split Evloev open, were legal.

“Caught a head-and-arm with about three minutes left in the round, I fired off some knees, and in the moment I believe they were legal,” Allen said. “I asked the rules backstage, and there was nothing to clarify. Mark Goddard is getting a lot of flack for his call, but when he came in and said he was reffing, me, my coach and my manager were very happy, and I still think he’s one of the best refs out there. I believe he made a mistake, and you know, it’s a tough one. … I do feel I was on to a sequence where I was about to set up a finish.

“My opponent was really hurt. The way he sat down, the way he was reacting from the knees. His hand was off even with the rule. Every knee that landed his hand was in the air. I lifted him up, knee, I lifted him up, knee, I lifted him up, knee. Even with that hand down, hand up rule, they were all legal. Then also its palm on the ground, a weight-bearing palm, not fingertips. So at minimum, it was fingertips when I lifted him up, and it wasn’t weight-bearing. It was just poking the floor, poking the floor. I do believe I would have set up a finish from there.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

UFC 297 post-event facts: Dricus Du Plessis, Raquel Pennington make history in title wins

The best facts to come out of UFC 297, which saw two new champions crowned with historic achievements attached to both new reigns.

The UFC’s first pay-per-view of the year is likely to prove to be far from the most memorable, but UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto did prove significant with two new champions crowned.

In the main event, [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) edged [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (28-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) by split decision in the Fight of the Night to claim the middleweight championship. In the co-headliner, [autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag] (16-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC) outlasted [autotag]Mayra Bueno Silva[/autotag] (10-3-1 MMA, 5-3-1 UFC) for a unanimous decision for the vacant women’s bantamweight title.

For more on the numbers behind the title fights, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts for UFC 297.

UFC 297 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Sean Strickland’s $42,000 tops card

Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 297 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $285,500.

TORONTO – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 297 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $285,500.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC 297 took place at Scotiabank Arena in Canada. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.

The full UFC 297 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag]: $42,000

[autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Mayra Bueno Silva[/autotag]: $32,000

[autotag]Neil Magny[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Mike Malott[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Chris Curtis[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Marc-Andre Barriault[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Garrett Armfield[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Brad Katona[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Sean Woodson[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Charles Jourdain[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Ramon Taveras[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Serhiy Sidey[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Gillian Robertson[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Polyana Viana[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Sam Patterson[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Yohan Lainesse[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Jasmine Jasudavicius[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Priscila Cachoeira[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Jimmy Flick[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Malcolm Gordon[/autotag]: $6,000

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $445,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $23,152,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

UFC 297 results: Movsar Evloev outgrapples Arnold Allen, overcomes trifecta of knees ruled illegal

An important featherweight bout kicked off the UFC 297 main card – and it was a close one.

[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag] kept rolling Saturday when he defeated arguably his toughest test to date in [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag].

The featherweight bout kicked off the UFC 297 main card at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Evloev (18-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) won a closely contested decision unanimously (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

When the dust settled and it was time for the decision, both men sported damage on their faces.

After a close first round, Allen (19-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) sustained left eye swelling as the result of a staggering Evloev combination in Round 2. The set of blows had him rattled internally, but he regained himself well on the stool.

In Round 3, Allen came out like a man on a mission. He stalked Evloev with a sense of urgency and threw with semi-reckless abandon. He stuffed many of Evloev’s wrestling attempts throughout the fight, particularly in Round 3.

A frequently used defensive mechanism was a choke attempt. In one pivotal sequence, Allen grabbed a front headlock of Evloev and landed a trio of knees. As the knees landed, Evloev’s left hand continually elevated off, then returned to, the canvas.

Referee Marc Goddard ruled the knees illegal and called timeout. The skin of Evloev’s head was shredded as a result of the blows, but he was deemed good enough to continue. Goddard gave Allen a stern warning and the action continued. Allen continued his pressure attack, but ultimately was unable to get the finish he sought.

After the win during his in-cage interview, Evloev indicated he thinks a shot vs. the winner of the UFC 298 main event title fight between champion Alexander Volkanovski and Illia Topuria is out of the question. Evloev has yet to lose in his professional career and also holds wins against Diego Lopes and Dan Ige among others.

With the defeat, Allen has lost two fights in a row. His previous outing was in April when he lost a hard-fought decision to Max Holloway.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 297 results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

Movsar Evloev def. Arnold Allen at UFC 297: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Movsar Evloev’s unanimous decision win over Arnold Allen at UFC 297 in Toronto.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] at UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. (Photos by Dan Hamilton, USA Today Sports)

UFC 297’s Arnold Allen eyes return to title contention with win over undefeated Movsar Evloev

Arnold Allen is confident a win over Movsar Evloev at Saturday’s UFC 297 gets him back in title contention.

TORONTO – [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] is confident he’ll prove he’s among the top title contenders this Saturday – even though he’s not fighting a top-five opponent.

Allen (19-2 MMA, 10-1 UFC) takes on [autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag] in the opening bout of the UFC 297 main card. The British fighter admits he wanted an opponent ranked higher than Evloev (17-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), but he had problems getting the bigger names. Despite fighting down the rankings, Allen believes he’s in a much tougher fight.

“I think he’s a really good athlete, a really good fighter, highly skilled. Yeah, a dangerous opponent,” Allen said at the UFC 297 media day on Wednesday. “I can kind of relate to those feelings when I was coming up when I wanted to fight top guys and no one wanted to give up their rankings to fight someone below them. There are tougher fighters outside of that. Sometimes I look up, and I see someone ranked higher than me, and he’s an easier fight than this one. It’s very easy to be No. 3 and be like, ‘I’m only fighting No. 2 or 1. Everyone does that. It sucks.”

Allen hasn’t fought since April 2023 when his 12-fight unbeaten streak was snapped by a unanimous decision loss to former champion Max Holloway. If victorious over Evloev, Allen believes he’ll be back in the title picture at 145 pounds.

“I want to be world champion, and I think this is the fight that puts me back into the title picture,” Allen said. “After the Holloway fight, I was asking for Ortega. Same thing I was saying earlier, he was a fight I thought was easier than these guys down the line, and he was a higher-ranked guy, so it made sense. I don’t want easy matchups. This guy is tougher. He’s undefeated and wants to prove his own claim at a title, and I want to show I’m still there in that picture.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

Video: ‘UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis’ media day interviews

Before UFC 297 on Saturday, the main card and prelim fighters are scheduled to speak to reporters at media day.

TORONTO – UFC 297 takes place Saturday at Scotiabank Arena with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

Before fight night arrives, though, notable athletes from the card spoke to reporters Wednesday at media day.

If you happen to miss any of the individual sessions on the live stream, check below for the archived videos of each fighter’s session.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

UFC 297 pre-event facts: Can Dricus Du Plessis’ output crack Sean Strickland’s defense?

The best facts and figures about UFC 297, which sees Dricus Du Plessis’ strong offense put Sean Strickland’s record defense to the test.

The UFC on Saturday returns to Toronto for the first time since December 2018 with UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena.

The first numbered event of the year features a title fight doubleheader. In the main event, [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) will attempt to defend the middleweight title against [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC. In the co-headliner, [autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag] (15-8 MMA, 12-5 UFC) and [autotag]Mayra Bueno Silva[/autotag] (10-2-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) are set to clash for the vacant women’s bantamweight belt.

For more on the numbers behind all four championship competitors, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts for UFC 297 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).

UFC 297’s Arnold Allen: There were ‘easier fights with higher-ranked guys’ than Movsar Evloev

Arnold Allen thinks he could have drawn a bigger name with less threat than Movsar Evloev.

[autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] thinks he could have drawn a bigger name with less threat than [autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag].

Allen (19-2 MMA, 10-1 UFC) meets undefeated Evloev (17-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Both Allen and Evloev have often been dubbed as dark horses in the featherweight division. After getting his win streak snapped by former champion Max Holloway in his past outing, Allen admits he was looking to face a more notable name than Evloev.

“He’s very highly touted,” Allen said on Evloev in an interview with Violent Money TV. “I think there was some easier fights with higher-ranked guys. We were asking straight up for (Brian) Ortega after the Holloway fight – the bigger name, the bigger fight – and obviously he was out for a while. Then I think they just want to make him and Yair (Rodriguez) rematch down the line.

“I think that’s what they’re doing now. There’s some easier matchups and higher-ranked guys, but I think he’s a very credible opponent and the rankings are kind of chosen, aren’t they? So if you go on the official rankings – not the UFC rankings, the Fight Matrix ones – he’s much higher than they have him.”

Even though Evloev may not be the biggest name at featherweight, Allen sees the perks with a win over him.

“It’s a tough test,” Allen continued. “And I think beating an undefeated guy and taking his hype and taking his undefeated record away, that’s a lot bigger than beating a No. 3 guy that’s on a skid or something.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Oct. 2-8)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Oct. 2-8.