Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is just one day away from the upcoming UFC Vegas 122 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which is set to go down tomorrow night (Sat., Sept. 26, 2026) on Paramount+ from inside Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC Vegas 122 features a bantamweight main event between 185-pound standouts Brendan Allen and Christian Leroy Duncan, a five-round showdown that could shake up the division Top 10.
Before we dive into the main and co-main event, which includes the 155-pound collision
between lightweight up-and-comer Matheus Camilo and grizzled 155-pound veteran Jai Herbert, check out Andrew Richardson’s “X-Factor” breakdown for the rest of the UFC Vegas 122 main card by clicking here. Get all the latest “Allen vs. Duncan” odds and betting props courtesy of FanDuel right here. For complete UFC Vegas 122 live results and play-by-play click here.
185 lbs.: Brendan Allen vs. Christian Leroy Duncan
Brendan “All In” Allen
Record: 27-7 | Age: 30 | Betting line: -130
Wins: 6 KO/TKO, 14 SUB, 7 DEC | Losses: 2 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 4 DEC
Height: 6’2” | Reach: 75” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 3.75 | Striking accuracy: 52%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 3.78 | Striking Defense: 47%
Takedown Average: 1.52 (41% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 57%
Current Ranking: No. 5 | Last fight: Unanimous decision win over Edmen Shahbazyan
Christian Leroy Duncan
Record: 15-2 | Age: 31 | Betting line: +110
Wins: 10 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 4 DEC | Losses: 0 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 2 DEC
Height: 6’2“ | Reach: 79” | Stance: Switch
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 4.45 | Striking accuracy: 57%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 2.36 | Striking Defense: 54%
Takedown Average: 0.43 (20% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 57%
Current Ranking: No. 10 | Last fight: Unanimous decision win over Jared Cannonier
Brendan Allen can’t seem to make up his mind when it comes to the 185-pound title chase. Is “All In” a legitimate contender? Or a mid-card guy who sometimes gets lucky against top talent? After back-to-back decision losses to Nassourdine Imavov and Anthony Hernandez, it seemed as though Allen was indeed the former. Then came a three-fight win streak, which includes a UFC Vancouver main event that saw Reinier de Ridder quit at the end of the fourth round. That was Allen’s first TKO in over five years and just his second under the UFC banner. Allen does his best work in the grappling exchanges, evidenced by his 14 submissions, but does not have a high percentage of takedowns and only converts about half the shots he takes. Against a powerful slugger like Christian Leroy Duncan, I would not be surprised to see Allen improve those numbers — simply because he has no choice. If he tries to stand with the hard-hitting Englishman, he’s probably going to sleep.
“He’s young in his career,” Allen said at the UFC Vegas 122 media day. “He’s a young guy in his career, so he’s just finding himself. I think he’s talented, but I think he’s very green when it comes to his career. I think this is a big, big step up for him, and I’m expecting him to be one of those guys that takes that step up, takes that pressure, and that opportunity and really thrives. Sometimes you see guys fall, and sometimes you see guys thrive. I think he’s a guy who’s going to thrive. I’m super excited to go out there and test that. I like when I watch his fights, he kind of has that dog in him, but it’s never been fully tested. ‘Robocop’ did a good job at testing it, but I’m really going to test it. It’s five rounds. They only had three. Five rounds, man. He better hope he catches me early because if he doesn’t catch me early, we’re really going to see what he’s made of.”
Duncan has been nothing short of unstoppable over the last 18 months, racking up five straight wins with a pair of highlight-reel knockouts, both of which were good enough to score a pair of $100,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses. He’s also faced some tough outs during that stretch, including Roman Dolidze and Jared Cannonier, putting more space between this weekend’s fight and his disappointing decision loss to Gregory Rodrigues back in summer 2024. The Dolidze and Cannonier wins are worth mentioning a second time because Duncan was taken down eight times between those two combatants, a statistic that has to be concerning for even the most diehard Duncan fan considering the fighting style of Allen. Remember, it was takedowns that led to his downfall against Rodrigues, who shot more takedowns in their UFC 304 showdown than he did for the rest of his career combined.
“I’m here, but I still have a high ceiling; I’m still learning,” Duncan told UFC.com. “I came into the game fresh, very green, and even into the UFC, and now, I’m finding my feet, my skill set is rising fast. My early career, my athleticism and my physical ability took me a long way, and now, to have the smarts, the IQ coming through as well, this makes me a dangerous problem in this division. I’m competing against guys that I’ve been watching, that I’m familiar with from an amateur. [Allen is] young, but he’s a veteran at heart with the experience that he has banked, and for me, to be competing against these guys, it shows the level we’ve risen to and are still evolving to. We’re ready for wherever it may go, wherever Brendan may want to take it Saturday.”
Brendan wants to take it to the floor and he will probably succeed, based on what we’ve seen from Duncan’s ground game thus far in his career. Duncan is probably too strong to get trapped in a submission, but Allen is going to cruise to a sweep on the judges’ scorecards via “Sin City” mug-and-slug.
Prediction: Allen def. Duncan by decision
155 lbs.: Matheus Camilo vs. Jai Herbert
Matheus “Jaguar” Camilo
Record: 11-3 | Age: 25 | Betting line: -200
Wins: 5 KO/TKO, 2 SUB, 4 DEC | Losses: 0 KO/TKO, 3 SUB, 0 DEC
Height: 5’10“ | Reach: 69” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 2.22 | Striking accuracy: 43%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 3.05 | Striking Defense: 66%
Takedown Average: 4.16 (53% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 0%
Current Ranking: Unranked | Last fight: Technical knockout win over Nazim Sadykhov
Jai “The Black Country Banger” Herbert
Record: 14-6-1 | Age: 38 | Betting line: +165
Wins: 10 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 3 DEC | Losses: 3 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 2 DEC
Height: 6’1“ | Reach: 77” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 3.19 | Striking accuracy: 41%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 3.34 | Striking Defense: 52%
Takedown Average: 0.42 (21% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 66%
Current Ranking: Unranked | Last fight: Technical knockout win over Mandel Nallo
Matheus Camilo was a young, highly-touted prospect when he made his debut at UFC Vegas 106 back in May 2025, where he was summarily smoked by Gabriel Green. The loss would have been more forgivable had Green been a top prospect himself, but the “Gifted” Bellator veteran had a losing UFC record coming into their contest, had not fought in two years, and was trying to rebound from a knockout loss to Bryan Battle. Fortunately, Camilo has been able to put some distance between that performance and tomorrow night’s co-main event, thanks largely in part to consecutive wins over Viacheslav Borshchev and Nazim Sadykhov, the latter of which ended by way of first-round technical knockout. It’s important to note that Camilo is still just 25 years old and progressively coming into his own, just as it’s important to note that Borshchev and Sadykhov are not very good. Camilo looks to be a major player in the lightweight division if he continues his upward trend, I just think it’s too early to declare “Jaguar” the next big thing at 155 pounds. I don’t know if a victory over Jai Herbert answers any of those questions because “The Black Country Banger” has a losing record under the UFC banner.
“I like the fight, it matches up well with my game,” Camilo told Ag Fight. “He’s a taller guy, but it’s a fight that matches up well with my game. He’s a striker, so I’m happy. He likes distance and I like to pressure. Since it’s going to be at the APEX, with a small cage, he won’t have anywhere to run. He likes a more measured game, but that’s where I’m going to get him. I’m going to make him uncomfortable. I’m coming to finish. I want to show once again who I am. I’m coming for the knockout, I want to knock him out. I’ve trained a lot, my hands are made of stone. I can’t wait for us to fight. I want to show the whole division that I have hands of stone. If he makes a mistake, he’s going down.”
Jai Herbert jumped to UFC after a 10-1 run on the International circuit, which includes an undefeated run for the popular Cage Warriors promotion in England. While he undoubtedly makes a worthy addition to the UFC London (and Manchester) fight cards, his expectations far outweighed his results, with Herbert putting together a losing record of 4-5-1 in 10 trips to the Octagon. To be fair, he’s faced some very tough lightweights along the way, including Renato Moicano and Ilia Topuria, I just don’t think the future is very bright for 38-year-old veteran swimming in a division full of sharks. Forget about killers like Arman Tsarukyan and Max Holloway, just to get into the Top 5 of the 155-pound weight class you first have to get through the likes of Quillan Salkilld, Renato Moicano, and Benoit Saint Denis — a pretty tall order for any fighter sharing lightweight real estate, regardless of ranking. Herbert is primarily a striker, putting those hands on display against Mandel Nallo at UFC Winnipeg last April. I’m not writing letters to my future grandchildren about the time Mandel Nallo fell at the hands of the mighty Jai Herbert, but it sure beats another loss.
“I’ve got to make a statement in this fight,” Herbert told UFC.com. “You’ve got to go out there and make a statement if you want to push for bigger fights, and that’s what I’m going to do, man. Go out there and make a big statement… We’re gonna go out there, keep it calculated, stay cold, stay calm, and then when the opportunity arises, go out there and get the win [and] get the finish. That’s what it’s all about, getting that momentum. Pick up that momentum, get some back-to-back wins, then move on to more wins next year, and pick up the momentum and move forward, pushing to get to the rankings. It’s a good matchup. My opponent, Camilo, good fighter, all-rounder. So, you know, it’s a good matchup from the UFC, but I’m here to go in there and get the victory, by any means necessary.”
Herbert is the +165 underdog which makes sense on paper but don’t count him out. I’m not sold on Camilo as the Brazilian wunderkind he wants to be, I just don’t think I can pick an older, slower lightweight who stepped evolving five years ago against a younger, faster opponent who looks better each time out.
Prediction: Camilo def. Herbert by technical knockout
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the UFC Vegas 122 main card predictions RIGHT HERE.
