If someone told you there was a fighter with a nine-fight win streak in the featherweight division, one would assume that fighter is acknowledged as a big factor in the division’s title picture.
For Arnold Allen, however, the road to recognition has taken a little longer than one might assume. Part of that is the depth of the division that is currently ruled by Alexander Volkanovski. Part of it is also the fact that Allen hasn’t been the most active of fighters, but what’s true is that Allen has consistently produced excellent performances, none louder than his first-round TKO of Dan Hooker in London. The fight against “The Hangman” was Allen’s first matchup against someone of top 10 quality, and it is perhaps the one that catapulted him out of the shadows a bit.
And yet Allen still finds himself on the outer circle of the top 5. He might not view himself as a dark horse as much as he used to, but he’s also in the limbo between that underrated status and having a reputation that has grown past it.
“I think too many people are saying it for it to be true,” Allen said. “If everyone is saying I’m the dark horse, then I can’t be the dark horse. I think it’s just me. I don’t really talk a lot. I don’t really shout at people or say anything bad. I just kind of think this is one of the fights where we’ll let the fight do the talking. I don’t think (Calvin Kattar) said anything mean. We’re not those kinds of guys. We’re just going to fight and earn our spot.”
After he beat Hooker, Allen threw Kattar’s name out there as a logical next opponent. Things lined up as such that the two could’ve locked horns when UFC returned to London in July.
However, Kattar instead opted to fight Josh Emmett in a main event in Austin, Texas, where he dropped a razor-close split decision.
“I’m not that kind of guy that calls people out and talks crap and whatnot, but I figured it was a logical step,” Allen said. “He’s the guy above me, and I came off a win over Hooker, and I thought that was the fight that made sense to ask for it.”
Allen (18-1 MMA, 9-0 UFC) said he thought Kattar (23-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) won the fight, but regardless, he’s happy to fight the Massachusetts native anyway.
The two are right next to each other in the rankings, and stylistically, he’s eager to test himself against Kattar and his high boxing pedigree.
“I like to let my hands go,” Allen said. “It’s more exciting for the fans, and I think that’s kind of one of the things that happened with the Dan Hooker fight was I didn’t really expect him to want to take us down, so it was a bit more confidence to let your hands fly.”
The Ipswich native admits his past fights against grappling-heavy foes led him to more of a counter-wrestling, conservative striking style, so he enjoyed going a bit mad after catching a shot to the eye against Hooker.
Although Kattar has shown he can mix it up, the veteran is definitely more of the stand-and-bang type, with a wealth of main event experience accrued over the last couple of years.
With Volkanovski dabbling in taking on lightweight champion Islam Makhachev after running through a crop of featherweight contenders, there is some noise about an interim featherweight championship. However, those are just rumors, and the 145-pounders in the meantime are left to jockey for position as Volkanovski makes his next move.
When asked about the Australian’s double-champ aspirations, Allen didn’t feel any sort of frustration toward the champion. In Allen’s mind, he just needs to take care of the fights in front of him, and eventually, he’ll fight somebody for the title.
First comes the first main event of his career, something he is eager about. It feels like it’s been a long time coming for the 28-year-old, and now that it’s here, he feels like it’s where he should’ve been all along.
“This might sound arrogant, but I’ve always I visualized it and anticipated it because you work hard for the things you want, and it’s nice to get that,” he said. “You work your ass off, you do the traveling and all these things, but it starts coming together and you get the main event spots, and you feel you deserve it.”
This story first published at UFC.com.
