Brendan Allen is just being himself, and sometimes, in the UFC business, that’s not enough to get a fighter where they need to go.
Allen returns to action this Saturday when he faces Christian Leroy Duncan in the main event of UFC Vegas 122. After winning a shocking piece of matchmaking against Edmen Shahbazyan in his most recent outing at UFC Vegas 118 in June, “All In,” and many others, expected Allen to get a fight with one of the top six names in the division.
While Allen fighting Duncan makes
more sense than Shahbazyan did, he was asked if he was suprised by the booking.
“In a way, yes, but in a way, no,” Allen told MMA Fighting. “I was kind of told why it was this way and stuff like that, and it was just kind of the same thing: Nobody really was available, this was the best guy that was ready to go. They said I could fight in December, but it wasn’t guaranteed, and they know I like to stay active. I could sit out and wait for something, but there was no guarantee when it would be, I don’t like those uncertainties.
“If I don’t fight, I don’t make money, so, go get this check. Hopefully, get this win, and then we can communicate about the rest later, but kids got to eat.”
Despite being just 30 years old, Allen already has 15 wins in the promotion, including three straight victories, one of which was a super-impressive stoppage over Reinier de Ridder at UFC Vancouver a little more than a year ago.
As he prepares for his fourth fight in 15 months, and sees active fighters start to get over with the promotion and fanbase, Allen wonders what he’s doing wrong to have such a wide gap between résumé and popularity.
“I think I stay pretty active,” Allen said. “I think I stay pretty relative in terms of fighting and my [social media following] don’t say that. My social media is super low. People don’t really say much about me unless it’s shit, but you kind of like it that way though, right?
“I mean, having a bigger following means more asses in the seats, which means bigger fights and bigger opportunities in sponsorships and fights. There’s many guys that have gotten bigger fights [that] they shouldn’t have got based off of their talent, or their merit as far as fighting-wise, but they get it because they have a big social media following, which means they have a big viewership, which means they bring eyes. More eyes mean more money, like, that’s the business.
“I definitely think I’d have bigger opportunities if, in all realms, if I had a bigger following, but, I don’t know, I’m just not that likable guy, I guess, so it is what it is.”
Allen is a family man, who competes inside the octagon to put food on the table and clothes on his kids’ backs. So there’s a part of him that enjoys having a bit more a private life where he isn’t mobbed by fans every time he goes out for a day out with his family.
But on the other end, having the limelight means more income-generating opportunities, more followers added to the social media numbers, and a better chance to rise up the ranks in a promotion where entertainment and star power has dictated advancement more than quality of work in the modern era.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” Allen said. “It’s hard because it’s like, my résumé is better than, f*ck, I would say 90 or 95 percent of the roster, and just guys come in and get good sponsorships or good opportunities and I’m just sitting over here like, ‘Damn, must be nice.’
“I do this shit by myself. I don’t have anyone backing me f*cking, what? $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, I don’t have someone getting my fights that I haven’t earned. I don’t have any of that. I’ve been doing this shit by myself. It’s also like, yeah, it sucks. It sucks sometimes to think about, or to see, or frustrating or whatever, but at the end of the day, when I walk away, I know I did this shit kind of myself.
“Obviously I had help and I was around good people and they put me on some things, but ultimately, at the end of the day, everything I’ve got, I earned. … But now, I’m at the age and the point in my career, I’m like ‘Damn, I’m trying to get a little bit of that life.’ Like, this stuff’s been hard and stressful, but I want a little bit of that easy life. But no matter what, I always just think my fighting is what has always paid the bills. That’s what always puts me where I need to be.
“So I just need to keep focused on fighting and how I perform in those fights, and hopefully, as long as everything goes right and, God willing, I’ll reach that level at some point. If I stay in it long enough and I stay true to the game long enough, maybe the game will give it back to me at some point.”
Allen now faces the surging Duncan, who is 8-2 in the octagon and has really started to make things happen with five straight victories. In his most recent outing, “CLD” got a decision win over one-time title challenger Jared Cannonier at UFC Oklahoma City in July.
A win over Duncan adds to Allen’s list of accomplishments, although the road seems like it gets longer and longer to that elusive title shot with each win, Allen happens to be on the same team with another fighter who was dealt a similar hand in Belal Muhammad, who eventually hit pay dirt by becoming world champion in his first opportunity against Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July 2024.
“We’ve had those conversations for sure, but now he’s super popular,” Allen said. “His social media is popping. Every time you go somewhere with him, everyone is always asking him for pictures, no matter where you go in the world. I can attest to that one million percent.
“I don’t know, I just focus on fighting. I just got to go out there and fight. If I go out here and lose this fight, everyone’s just going to talk shit anyway, but then I’m just going to be written off. So it’s like, I just got to go be me. If I go be me, I should win. If he catches me, he catches me. That’s the only way he’s gonna beat me is to catch me. And if that happens, it just wasn’t my time. I have to rebuild myself back up like I’ve done many times, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
“I think I’m going to go out there and I’m going to put pressure on him, and past the second round, I’m just going to run away with it. We’ll just see how it goes. That’s just my thoughts, but I got to go out there and put them to the test. At this point it’s just a hypothesis, so I got to go test that.”
