Arnold Allen believes his upcoming fight against Dan Hooker at UFC London is a key point in his career.
Allen is currently the seventh-ranked featherweight and is 17-1 as a pro, including being 8-0 in the UFC. However, he still doesn’t have the biggest name in the division, so he knows if he can beat a fan-favorite in Hooker, it would be big.
“I think it will definitely put me in the top-five talks. That’s why I was all for the fight because it definitely puts me up there,” Allen said to The Sun. “If you loom at the guys he’s fought recently at lightweight, the weight above, he’s coming down and I think he was ranked eighth at lightweight. So he’s coming down to fight and a [win] will for sure propel me to those top boys. It’s kind of a funny division, featherweight, at the minute. All those top guys, the top-five or top-six, they’re all kind of tied up with each other anyway.”
As Allen says, the division is a weird one with Alex Volkanovski and Max Holloway likely to have their trilogy if Volkanovski gets past Korean Zombie. After that, there is no clear next contender as Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett are both a fight away, but if the Brit can win this one impressively, he could jump the line.
However, even with a potential title eliminator bout being next, Arnold Allen says he isn’t experiencing any added stress.
“I’m not feeling the pressure. It’s what I train for; this is what I’ve been doing [for],” Allen said.
“The pressure, if there is pressure, bring it on. It’s what I’m here for.”
UFC London goes down on March 19 and sees Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall as the main event.
Who do you think will win, Arnold Allen or Dan Hooker?
