RDR, CLD, now DDP.
No. 4-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight contender Brendan Allen defended his position by submitting red-hot prospect Christian Leroy Duncan in the main event of UFC Vegas 122 last night (Sat., Oct. 10, 2026) inside Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada (watch highlights).
For the second fight in a row, Allen accepted an opponent positioned well beneath him in the rankings despite sitting near the top of the division.
“All-In” handed Reinier de Ridder his first UFC
loss (watch highlights), snapped Edmen Shahbazyan’s win streak, and became the first person to stop Duncan. Allen has now won four consecutive fights, but instead of receiving a title eliminator, he has repeatedly been asked to defend his spot against surging prospects.
He is done with that.
Allen has spent months and months calling for a fight with former Middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis, and after his latest victory, he once again challenged “DDP” to accept the matchup.
“Yeah, if he drops his nuts,” Allen told reporters during the UFC Vegas 122 post-fight press conference. “It’s all talk from his side all the time. I’ve been waiting to sign the contract.
“I’ve seen everyone talking sh—t, saying I’m just calling out DDP, but it’s because he’s the only one who makes sense,” Allen continued. “No. 1, we’ve had our differences. No. 2, we were supposed to fight before, so it’s not like it’s unreasonable. I’m not going to chase that motherf—ker. If he wants to fight, fight. If not, we’ll figure something else out.”
Allen believes Du Plessis deliberately chose the easier matchup when he fought former longtime Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman instead of accepting a fight with him.
“Dricus got Kamaru, and everyone was hyping up Kamaru because of his resume,” Allen told MMAmania.com. “Yes, he has a great resume and is one of the best ever to do it at Welterweight. His accolades are great. That’s true.”
“But we’re not there anymore. We’re very far past that,” Allen continued. “Father Time will get every single one of us if we stay in this game long enough. So, yeah, he was the easier fight compared to me. There is no questioning that.”
Allen then explained why he believes he presented a much more dangerous challenge for Du Plessis.
“I’m younger, I’m hungrier, I’m bigger, I’m faster and I’m stronger,” Allen said. “I’m close in experience. He’s had more title fights, but I’ve had more fights. I’m tough. I think I’m technically better, but that’s just my opinion.
“No matter how you cut it, at that point in time, I was the harder fight — no questions about it,” Allen continued. “He took the easier fight. He knows it, I know it and f—k Henry Cejudo, too.”
Cejudo caught a stray for being Usman’s podcast co-host.
With Allen ranked No. 4, Du Plessis still hovering near the top of the division and both men carrying genuine bad blood, the matchup makes plenty of sense.
Whether it actually happens is another question.
One thing is certain: after defending his ranking against two consecutive prospects, Allen does not intend to fight someone six places beneath him again.
He wants “DDP” — nuts and all.
For more UFC Vegas 122 fight card results, coverage, and highlights click HERE
