Brendan Allen made a huge statement in his impromptu main event at UFC Vegas 70 after tapping out Andre Muniz in the third round.
Originally planned as the co-main, the midweights were promoted to the top after Nikita Krylov was unable to eat and had to be evicted from his bout against Ryan Spann. Allen seized the opportunity to shine in the spotlight and displayed strong striking, before finally taking Muniz down to the mat. He then secured a back-naked choke that finished the Brazilian specialist in jiu jitsu.
The end came at 4:25 in the third round as Allen picks up the biggest win of his UFC career while handing Muniz his first loss inside the octagon.
“I had so many people sending me so much hate stuff and ‘you’re going to lose’ and this and that — to all the people that supported me, thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Allen said afterwards. Thank you very much. To everyone that doubted me, two [middle fingers] and I’m laughing to the bank, baby.
“I’m very blessed that Andre took the fight. That guy deserves so much respect. Thank you .”
The middleweights were throwing heavy leather from the first exchange with Allen tagging Muniz with a hard shot that appeared to wobble the Brazilian briefly before he reset in the center of the cage. Muniz responded with a big straight right which cracked Allen’s chin, but Allen continued to trade blows.
Although Muniz was not as precise with his combinations, Allen kept him honest by throwing every shot with power. This prevented Allen from putting together more than two strikes at a time.
As the fight moved into the second round, the exchanges on the feet were still even and that led to Muniz finally turn to his grappling as he looked for a takedown. Just when it looked like Muniz would get the upper hand, Allen rolled through a reversal and ended up on top of the Brazilian.
From there, Allen measured some well-timed punches and elbows as he looked to just grind Muniz into the canvas. Allen was able to move to side control which enabled him to keep control of Muniz.
With time ticking away to the final horn, Muniz tried to turn the tables with a reset in the third round as he started letting his hands go with more confidence. Allen grabbed a kick and took Muniz to the ground.
Allen advanced quickly to search for an arm triangle choke, and then he moved to the back to begin fishing for the rear naked choke. Although Muniz was able to defend himself at the beginning, Allen kept threatening from behind until Allen finally managed to slip his arm below the chin.
A split second later, Allen had the choke secured and with a grimace on his face Muniz was forced to tap out while suffering a submission loss for the first time in his 28-fight career.
The win will undoubtedly propel Allen up the middleweight rankings and now he’s got revenge on his mind for a couple of past losses or perhaps taking on another top 15 opponent following his huge win on Saturday.
” I’m trying fight everyone in this witch,” Allen stated. “I want to run it with Sean Strickland, let’s run that back. Chris Curtis, let’s run that back.
“If neither of those two work, let’s go Jack Hermansson, we were supposed to run it a couple of times, let’s officially run that or Dricus Du Plessis, no matter what happens next weekend [at UFC 285], you’re still ahead of me. Let’s get this s***.”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/2/25/23615249/brendan-allen-pulls-off-shocking-submission-to-finish-andre-muniz-in-ufc-vegas-70-main-event?rand=96749
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