Despite taking this fight on short notice after an injury to Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez, Brendan Allen lived up to his promise to break Reinier De Ridder, forcing the corner of the two-division ONE champion to throw in the towel after four rounds to give him the win in the main event of UFC Vancouver.
De Ridder looked to use his size early, quickly locking up Allen in a clinch battle seconds into the bout. RDR managed to land a takedown about a minute later, with de Ridder searching for an arm-triangle choke. When Allen defended that, de Ridder looked to transition to the back. RDR worked the rest of the first from the back, landing punches and searching for the rear-naked choke and a late armbar attempt.
Allen looked to apply striking pressure to start the second round, but RDR quickly pinned him against the fence and scored a takedown. Halfway through the round, however, Allen managed to reverse the position, doing well with his striking from up top. De Ridder quickly brought the fight back to the ground in the third, getting right into top control on the back. Allen, however, again managed to reverse to top position, and by the end of the round, RDR appeared to be struggling to just get to his stool.
Allen scored a takedown to start the fourth, though De Ridder tried to score a choke from the bottom. Allen’s relenting pressure was too much, and referee Jason Herzog warned RDR after the round he needed to get to his corner or risk losing the fight. In the corner, the cornermen of a spent RDR threw in the towel, giving Allen the TKO win.
Brendan Allen Stops Reinier De Ridder At UFC Vancouver
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Allen has now won two straight and nine of 11, entering tonight off a unanimous decision win over Marvin Vettori at UFC 318.
RDR was 4-0 in the UFC entering tonight, scoring finishes of Gerald Meerschaert, Kevin Holland, and Bo Nickal before a win over Robert Whittaker at UFC Abu Dhabi. This was his first loss since dropping the ONE middleweight title in March 2024.
