Brendan Allen is uber confident about his new side quest in combat sports. He has yet to debut for his new promotion, but he already believes he can take on the champion.
Allen, a UFC middleweight contender, is taking his talents to freestyle wrestling, like many of his fellow UFC fighters have recently, and is set to make his RAF debut this Friday against former Bellator champion Alexander Shlemenko at RAF 14 in Las Vegas. Allen is excited to show off his wrestling skills and has high expectations for what he can do in RAF's crossover wing, the promotion's division that pits MMA fighters against each other.
"Yeah, I think I can stick with all of those guys," Allen told MMA Junkie Radio. "I was supposed to wrestle Colby a while ago at one point,
and I feel like with a camp, especially just focused on wrestling, maybe three or four weeks, if you give me one of them, I think I could beat any of those guys in just three or four weeks. I think I can beat any of them. I just need to focus on pure wrestling for a few weeks, and I think I can compete with anybody in the crossover world."
Allen does keep his expectations real. Just like any sport, he's aware there are levels to the game. Allen is not trying to call out any Olympic-level wrestler; he's looking to stick with the RAF crossover wrestlers.
"Obviously I'll never be able to beat a (national) team member, most likely, or an Olympic team member," Allen said. "That's not my goal here. I'm just doing it to stay sharp, get better, and just compete in a different martial arts ruleset. I'm excited to do that."
Currently, former UFC title challenger Colby Covington holds the RAF cruiserweight crossover title. He's expected to defend the belt against Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of RAF Abu Dhabi on Nov. 14.
Allen believes he is capable of taking the belt from Covington should he retain it against Chimaev, and he'd love to prove it at some point.
"I think I can hang with the best guys in the world from where I come from, the MMA side," Allen said. "I train a few weeks of constant effort in that discipline, and yeah, I think I can beat them. That's why I was trying to take that Colby matchup. I think I can beat him, too. I don't have all the accolades from college and high school. I learned how to wrestle after high school."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Brendan Allen confident he'd beat Colby Covington in RAF wrestling match
