Arnold Allens tells featherweight rivals he’s ‘coming’ to ‘freshen’ up the division after blitzing Hooker at UFC London
ARNOLD ALLEN has a message for the featherweight division’s big boys: “I’m coming.” The Suffolk smasher punched his ticket to 145lb title contention earlier this month with a stunning first-round TKO victory over Dan Hooker in the co-main event of UFC London. Allen, 28, now boasts a nine-fight win streak in mixed martial arts’ elite […]
ARNOLD ALLEN has a message for the featherweight division’s big boys: “I’m coming.”
The Suffolk smasher punched his ticket to 145lb title contention earlier this month with a stunning first-round TKO victory over Dan Hooker in the co-main event of UFC London.
Allen, 28, now boasts a nine-fight win streak in mixed martial arts’ elite promotion and is sat nicely at No.6 in the featherweight rankings.
And days after putting the entire division on notice with a statement-making win over Hooker, he told SunSport: “I’m coming.”
The emphatic stoppage of Hooker was exactly the statement the soft-spoken and respectful Allen needed to catapult himself into the title picture.
But the manner in which he butchered the former lightweight standout wasn’t in keeping with the game plan devised by head coach Firas Zahabi.
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He admitted: “The first round was supposed to be in-and-out, find the range and see how I felt with his range.
“See what his speed was, see what he throws up and just feel him out. And in the later rounds, we were going to pressure him then after we found that range.
“But I just rushed the plan and forced it really.”
Calvin Kattar was the name on Allen’s lips after a historic night at London’s O2 Arena, although he’ll happily take on one of the big dogs ahead of him in the rankings.
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When asked who he’d like to fight if he can’t get his hands Kattar, Allen replied: “Any of that top five. The fight I was pushing for was Korean Zombie.
“I was hoping to get it for the last fight but obviously he got bumped up for a title shot so I didn’t get that one. But we’ll see how it goes.”
In normal circumstances, victory in his next outing would see Allen call dibs on the winner of Alexander Volkanovski’s upcoming title defence against Chang Sung Jung.
But the shadow of Max Holloway and a trilogy fight with Volkanovski looms over the division.
Allen said: “100 per cent [Max is looming over the division.] 100 per cent. But my main focus, though, is just getting that next win and getting that title shot.
“Or getting in that title shot talk. But like you say, it’s a funny division. Korean Zombie, I think he’s ranked No.5 and he’s been bumped up for a title shot through injury.
“And Max Holloway is deserving more than anyone, so he’s getting the next shot. I’m sure.”
Allen, at this moment in time, is refusing to think about the matchmaker’s plans for the top of the division and is currently focused on getting back to his active ways.
He said: “If they plan to come back to the UK in the summer, that would make sense [for my next fight].
“But realistically, August time. Sort of summertime. That would be the perfect timing for me.”
After years of trying to crack the upper echelons of the division, Allen is hoping to shake up the weight class for once and for all.
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He said: “I think the division kind of needs freshening up. All of those guys [above me] have fought for those contenders’ spots, they’ve fought for the title shot.
“It’s sort of begging for someone else to come through and refresh the division.”