Brendan Allen stepped into the UFC Vancouver headliner under short notice — but it was Reinier de Ridder who looked unprepared when the cage door closed. Despite having only a few weeks to get ready, Allen fought with the poise of a veteran, wearing down his opponent until De Ridder’s team threw in the towel after the fourth round.
Originally, Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez was expected to headline opposite Allen, but an injury forced him out. When the UFC offered Allen the replacement opportunity, he didn’t hesitate. He had watched de Ridder crumble before — and that memory gave him confidence he could do it again.
Allen Saw De Ridder’s Breaking Point Coming
“You can see it when he fought the Russian guy [Anatoly Malykhin] for the second time in ONE, he did the same thing,” Allen said at the UFC Vancouver post-fight press conference. “I think the third or fourth round, the same thing. I knew I could get it done. 25 minutes is a very, very long time to take punishment.”
“I didn’t think he would be able to do it. He took a round longer than I thought but I also didn’t start off too hot in the first. Three rounds of dominance.”
During his ONE Championship run, De Ridder had fallen to Malykhin twice — first by knockout, then by stoppage after taking too much damage. That gave Allen all the proof he needed that De Ridder could be broken again.
The Turning Point in the Second Round
De Ridder started fast, taking Allen down and controlling him for most of the opening round. But the pace he set quickly became his downfall. When Allen reversed position in the second frame and began landing from top control, he instantly sensed the shift in momentum.
“I knew I think it was the second [round] when I stayed on top and was just hitting him and hitting him,” Allen explained. “I just didn’t want to blow my load, I guess you could say, no weird thing intended. I didn’t want to tank myself by trying to get him out of there. If I would have had like six weeks, for sure, I would have gave him more. I just was trying to be smart. I knew if I get him down again, I know I’m going to get him off. I told other people, there’s no way he can keep that pressure, he was trying so hard, squeezing so hard in the first, there’s no way that he can keep that for more than two rounds let alone five.”
Allen stayed patient, controlling the tempo and capitalizing on every mistake. He says his experience and composure made all the difference.
“I just stayed smart, stayed composed. Like I said before, I speak grappling fluently. That’s fine, you can have that round. 25 minutes, no problem. I’ll move a little bit and try to see where he’s going and how the movements are and just keep calculating. Keep logging the data that’s occurring and that’s what I did. Got him off in the second and just started to punish him.”
De Ridder’s exhaustion became clear as the rounds wore on. The referee even urged him to continue at times, and by the end of the fourth round, his corner made the decision to stop it.
“Five rounds, three and a half weeks of training. I just wanted to come out and be sharp,” Allen said. “He got the throw [in the first round]. I thought I stepped over but obviously I didn’t step over his feet. He hit the throw. I’ve hit the same throw on other people. It’s a nice throw. Good on him. Just little mistakes. Like I said, it took me a minute to get going, get the wheels going but like I said, 25 minutes is a very long time. I’ve done 25 minutes multiple times. Nothing new.”
“This whole thing didn’t present anything that I hadn’t had before. I’ve been in this game for a long time [at] the highest level, fighting some of the best guys in the world. I wasn’t shocked by anything. Nothing had me wavering. I just stayed composed, stayed listening to my team, stayed being open and honest with them about how I was feeling and we talked through it. The performance is what it was.”
With this victory, Allen once again finds himself within reach of middleweight title contention. De Ridder had been nearing a title opportunity himself, but the loss changes that trajectory entirely. Allen mentioned several potential next opponents after the win — one of them being former champion Dricus du Plessis, who had previously mocked him during a losing streak.
“Never when I’m up,” Allen said about du Plessis taking shots at him. “If that’s what it is, if it fits the timeline because I don’t know when he wants to return. But for now I’m just ready to get home to my family, take some time to mentally recoup.”
After taking out one of the division’s most respected grapplers, Brendan Allen not only silenced his critics but also proved he can perform under pressure — even on short notice.
