UFC middleweight contender Brendan Allen appears set to decline a trip to the French capital after being snubbed of the main event slot.
Allen, who currently occupies the #7 spot at 185 pounds, extended his winning run to seven in his first assignment of 2024, outpointing Chris Curtis in one of the year's best fights to avenge his 2021 loss to "The Action Man."
That result came in an Apex main event this past April, coming on the heels of two other main events at the low-capacity facility in Las Vegas.
And having had a taste of being on UFC Fight Night posters, Allen is now turning down high-profile matchups if he's not headlining...
Allen Says No Main Event, No Deal For UFC Fight Night Paris
During a video recently uploaded to Instagram, Allen provided an update on his current status three months on from his latest triumph inside the Octagon.
"All In" revealed that he has been offered a top five opponent in the form of Nassourdine Imavov, with the promotion looking to have the pair do battle at the UFC Fight Night scheduled for Paris, France, this September.
That card recently had its main event reported, with the always entertaining Benoît Saint Denis expected to headline in front of his home fans in a lightweight joust against Renato Moicano.
Allen, however, believes he has more of a right to top spot on the lineup.
This is for everyone that’s asking me what’s up, when am I fighting?" Allen said. "Two weeks ago, they said Imavov in Paris. I said yes. I said I want to be main event because I’ve main evented three in a row, won all three. I’m going into enemy territory, so if we’re going to do it for all the risk, all the gain, let’s go. Main event.
Next thing you know, we see (Saint Denis) and Moicano are the 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," Allen continued. "So Imavov, if you want to fight, you want this work, whatever you want to call it, come on over to America, we’ll get it done. There’s no way 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.
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This marks consecutive years in which Allen has rejected main events against high-ranked opponents.
"All In" turned down a headliner against Roman Dolidze last September because he wanted a higher-ranked name. While the Georgian was #7 at the time, Allen went on to face the #13-ranked Craig.
This occasion has seen Allen refuse a showdown with the current #4-ranked contender at 185 pounds.
It remains to be seen who the Californian will share the cage with next, and whether his decision to turn down a top five opponent will stall his planned surge to the title.