Brendan Allen beats Paul Craig at UFC Vegas, wants top opponents

Brendan Allen of the U.S. beat Paul Craig of Scotland via a rear-naked choke submission in the third round of the middleweight fight at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fight Night at the Apex Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday.

Allen led 51-10 in total strikes and 8:11-34 seconds of control time over Craig, according to UFC stats. His advantage was obvious as he broke Craig’s right eyebrow in the first round, staggered him with a right hand in the second round, and landed a left hook on Craig’s body in the third round before the choke.

Craig was three spots below Allen before Saturday’s fight on the UFC’s rankings table. Allen made it very clear that he felt no thrill at all about facing Craig. After the victory, he called for the UFC to arrange more top opponents for him.

“I’m a man of my word,” Allen said. “I need a No. 1 contender shot. I think I’ve deserved it. I’ve earned it. I’ve beat everyone they put in front of me. I’ve finished them.”

This wasn’t the first time that Allen expressed his desire to fight top opponents, but the only top-five fighter he ever faced was the current middleweight champion, his fellow Sean Strickland in 2020. Allen lost that fight by technical knockout (TKO) at 1:32 in the second round.

Strickland will face Dricus Du Plessis of South Africa to defend his belt at UFC 297 in Toronto, Canada, on January 20, 2024.

According to ESPN, Allen is willing to fight whoever the UFC puts in front of him, including former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker of Australia, the No. 4 middleweight fighter Jared Cannonier of the U.S. or Khamzat Chimaev of Russia.

“I’m the No. 1 middleweight in the world,” Allen said. “If you disagree, come see me.”