Arnold Allen is a bit frustrated with how things are going for him at the moment.
In March, Allen scored the signature win of his career when he knocked out Dan Hooker in the first round of the UFC’s return trip to London. Allen won his ninth consecutive bout and is now in contention for the title. With the UFC returning to London this past month, many expected Allen would once again get the call.
Unfortunately for “Almighty,” lingering issues with his hands prevented him from getting a second shot at fighting in front of the hometown crowd.
“It’s still these fragile things, it was just a bit too soon,” Allen said recently on The MMA Hour, showing off his hands. It was all hands this time. Dan’s got a hard head. It’s just a matter of patience, I suppose. This one I won against Sodiq [Yusuff], and it was not perfect in the Hooker fight. Then, I experienced more problems in my hands. Then I had two cortisone shots recently in [my right hand] and one in [my left]. Then it was feeling good for like two weeks when I had steroid hands, and then I started sparring again and I hurt them again. Now I am back. So slowly but surely, we’ll get there.”
Injuries are a constant issue for Allen. He has been unable to fight more than once per year in seven years of UFC experience.
Those struggles have made it difficult for Allen to build any momentum, and so despite being undefeated in the UFC, Allen is still only the No. 9 ranked featherweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings. The injuries are a fairly major setback to his career, and even Allen admits to being frustrated by how things keep playing out for him.
” I have been frustrated my whole life. But when I sit there and I really think about it, it’s going really well, so I can’t really complain,” Allen said. Many people have sent me many messages or tagged me in comments. People are complaining about my fighting ability and claiming that I fight only once per year. And I get it, I do. But it’s like, I don’t want to.”
Allen said he was “gutted” not to have the opportunity to fight in London. He isn’t the only one who’s missing out on this chance. Alexander Volkanovski, the featherweight champion, is currently recovering from an injury. He wants to fight for a lightweight title. There are also talks about a title fight between Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett. Allen, who currently has the second-longest win streak in the division behind Volkanovski, is not in that conversation.
It’s again all due to his inactivity.
“I feel easily forgotten, because I am not active enough and don’t discuss it much,” Allen stated. Allen said, “And I also don’t want to call things out when I am unable or unwilling to fight. And even if I get a contract, it’s not something I could actually accept.” So yeah, if I’m 100 percent and firing on all cylinders, I’d probably be pushing for something, but I’m not, so I can’t.”
However, Allen thinks things might be changing quickly.
Though he’s still nursing his hand injuries, Allen intends to fight once more this year, and given his win streak and status in the division, he believes that when he does come back, he will finally get a chance for that marquee win that can earn him a seat at the table.
“It would be nice [to be in the mix], but I’m confident I’m going to fight this year and optimistic it’s going to be one of those top-five guys,” Allen said. With a victory over one of these boys, there is no reason why I shouldn’t have a chance at something great.”
