Brendan Allen delivered a gritty performance in a classic main event matchup against Chris Curtis at UFC Vegas 90. After his seventh straight win, Allen called for a fight with UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis, or former champion Sean Strickland. Will “All-In” get either of his requests?
On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee give their thoughts on what could be next for Allen following his victory over Curtis in their rematch. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Damon Jackson after defeating Alexander Hernandez in the co-main event, Chepe Mariscal after improving his record to 3-0 inside the octagon in the event’s Fight of the Night, along with fellow main card winners, Ignacio Bahamondes, Charlie Campbell, and more after the promotion’s final stop on the road to UFC 300.
Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
Second-ranked lightweight contender Justin Gaethje and former featherweight titleholder Max Holloway meet on the UFC 300 main card with the symbolic BMF belt on the line.
It’s not the first time Holloway has gone up a division. “Blessed” fought Dustin Poirier at UFC 236 in April 2019 for the interim lightweight championship. Poirier won via unanimous decision, but it was a late replacement fight and Gaethje expects a different Holloway on Saturday.
“This is very different circumstances. Max is a big guy. I think he probably, even at 145, he walks around heavier than I do and he’s just as tall or taller than me. I think he’s ready for this fight at this weight class. I’m hoping it makes him a little bit slower, but time will tell,” Geatje told Shak MMA.
When Gaethje and Poirier first fought for the BMF belt at UFC 291 last July, the original BMF Jorge Masvidal wrapped the belt around his waist following the win. This time, Gaethje would love for UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman to be the one presenting the symbolic belt.
“I would love that especially with what he just went through. Sounds like a bad motherf**ker to me,” Gaethje said. “I don’t know him personally, but that’s somebody that you want to be. That’s somebody that you want to have in your group, someone that’s going to themselves in front of anybody else or anything else to save people. I believe and I hope that that would be my actions.”
“I’m not worried about who is going to wrap it around me. I’ve got to be very focused, but I think it would be much better for me than Masvidal putting that thing around me. I promise you that,” Gaethje continued.
UFC Vegas 90 went down this past weekend (Sat. April 6, 2024) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Christos Giagos, who was knocked out by Ignacio Bahamondes (see it again here).
And Alexander Hernandez, who suffered his second straight defeat after coming up short to Damon Jackson, losing a razor-thin split decision. But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Chris Curtis.
Coming into his short-notice rematch against Brendan Allen, Curtis had no pressure on his shoulders whatsoever. After all, he took the fight on short notice after Marvin Vettori bowed out of the fight with a “freak accident.” Furthermore, “Action Man” had already defeated Allen three years ago (watch highlights), so he had the blueprint to victory in his possession.
But, after 25 minutes of back-and-forth action, Curtis came up short, dropping a split decision after a hard-fought battle. To make matters worse for “Action Man,” he wound up suffering a torn hamstring as the five-round fight concluded. After the bout, Curtis was quick to give Allen his props, but also took a shot at the judges for their scoring.
“Been a while guys — Thank you all for the love and support. Not the result I hoped for,” he wrote on X. “Thought we had it but that’s life. Brendan Allen it was an honor to scrap again, and the score stands at 1-1 bro. Rest up and enjoy your family man. As for me, back to the drawing board.
“Watched it back four times now,” he added. “This one is going to sting for awhile. Not mad at Brendan. He didn’t score the fight. But yeah… that was a huge opportunity. I made mistakes, but I thought I did enough. This one hurts.”
Mistakes indeed.
Nevertheless, despite coming up short, Curtis will not lose any steam because he put it all on the line and did UFC a solid by stepping up to fight despite being “unprepared and out of shape,” according to his teammate and former Middleweight champion, Sean Strickland.
As far as what could be next for Curtis, that is tough to predict because his immediate challenge will be to recover from his injury, which — depending on the severity — could sideline him for awhile. When he’s ready to return, he should still be ranked in the Top 15 (he currently sits at No. 14).
Future opponents are also tough to pinpoint because of the uncertainty of his injury, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a fight between he and Paul Craig — whose last loss also came to Allen — at some point in time.
For complete UFC Vegas 90 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.
Jamahal Hill is scouring the earth for any and every piece of knowledge he can find about his UFC 300 opponent ahead of what is undoubtedly the most important fight of his career.
For ‘Sweet Dreams’ this match will serve as a harbinger of redemption. After a torn achilles that would result in him losing the title he worked so desperately hard for, he now gets the chance to prove himself once more and earn it again. But, the man standing in his way is seemingly more beast than man, and many who have stood in his way have fallen.
Mandatory Credit: Zuffa LLC
The man is Alex Pereira, and in only about three years with the UFC, he has become the stuff of legends. Few can forget the way he followed his rival over from kickboxing and skyrocketed up the UFC’s middleweight rankings. When he finally got his chance to face Israel Adesanya in the UFC, he captured the middleweight title and fully cemented himself amongst his peers. And now, even at light heavyweight, Pereira has found success with two consecutive victories.
Jamahal Hill seeks Israel Adesanya’s Advice for facing his toughest test to date in Alex Pereira
In what can be considered a wise move, Hill has admittedly reached out to the former middleweight champion Adesanya. “[Israel Adesanya was] just giving me some advice and insights on what he’s seen and his experience of being in there fighting Alex,” Hill revealed during the UFC Vegas 90 post-fight show (H/T MMA Fighting). “Just basically essentially those things and how to approach and things like that.”
Mandatory Credit: Zuffa LLC
Jamahal Hill knows that he himself also presents a massive challenge to Pereira and has a victory over Pereira’s mentor, Glover Teixeira. So, he claims that he really hasn’t changed much about his fight camp, leading into this particular battle.
“Still the same as usual,” Jamahal Hill said of his training. “You end the camp, stay loose, get the weight down. Make weight and go and do your thing.
“Training’s been great. I’m always growing, I’m always learning new things, always adding new things. Always trying new things out. It’s been going great. Martial arts is just one of those journeys, you’ve got to enjoy the process and that’s what I’m doing.”
‘Sweet Dreams’ also claims that the pressure of headlining a bi-centennial card like UFC 300 just merely adds to his excitement. In fact, he’s thrilled about having the chance to prove himself on such a large stage.
Mandatory Credit: Cooper Neil – Zuffa LLC
“One hundred percent it’s exciting,” Jamahal Hill said. “The best way I can describe it, it’s like in basketball, it’s like whenever you show up to the All-Star game. All-Star weekend, everybody wants to show their skills, want to make their name, want to get off like that. This is what this opportunity is.
“There’s a lot of big names on this card. A lot of guys with reputations that bring it. That bring an exciting fight so if you want your names to be among those and with that, it’s your chance to come with it and bring it.”
What do you think about Jamahal Hill’s chances against Alex Pereira?
File under: Mmafighting.com | Leave a comment »