Brendan Allen heard Damian Pinas say his name. He’s flattered. He’s also not interested.
Speaking to MMA Fighting ahead of his UFC Vegas 122 main event against Christian Leroy Duncan, Allen gave the young middleweight credit for calling his shot, then explained why the answer is no. “Oh, I appreciate the compliment. I appreciate it, but you ain’t getting this. You got to earn it,” Allen said. “To me, you’ve got to earn it.”
Pinas, the Surinamese middleweight MiddleEasy described as an unbeaten prospect, went after Allen right after a quick knockout of Andrey Pulyaev at UFC 332. That win pushed him to 3-0 in the UFC, with earlier victories over Cesar Almeida and Wes Schultz. It’s a tidy run. In Allen’s view, it’s also a short one.
View post on X
Allen has a theory about why his name keeps coming up, and he says it’s his own fault. He’s ranked high and he keeps taking fights against people outside the rankings, so newer guys see an opening. “I’m the guy that’s been fighting down. Nobody else is fighting down like me,” he said. He called it “a win-win for them,” because a loss to him still buys experience against a top-tier middleweight.
He also laughed off the idea, which he said multiple fighters have floated, that these callouts get under his skin. “Multiple guys say like, ‘Oh, he gets mad,’ or how can you tell if someone gets mad on Instagram?” Allen said. Then he got to the part Pinas will probably screenshot. Allen said Pinas is “just a young guy, man” with “a lot to prove,” and described the competition behind those three wins as “bottom of the barrel guys.”
Allen admitted he isn’t the most popular fighter with the fan base, and he thinks the up-and-comers get a boost he never had. “I mean, it doesn’t help that commentary plays into it and [they] say the things that they say,” he said. A few years ago, he added, hearing his name in a callout would have made him want to prove a point. These days he shrugs it off. He still left the door open, though. “So, hey, they earn it, and I’m still here. Any of them can get it.”
View post on X
First Allen has to take care of Duncan. He goes into Saturday’s headliner at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas on a three-fight win streak and squarely in the title picture, which is exactly why a 3-0 prospect wants a piece of him.
My take: Allen is right on the math and a little rough on the delivery. Three UFC wins, however violent, shouldn’t buy anyone a top-five middleweight, and Pinas knows it. That’s why he called out the one ranked guy who keeps saying yes to people below him. Calling Almeida and Schultz “bottom of the barrel” will sting, and it will also hand Pinas his next promo. The cleanest way for Allen to make the whole conversation go away is to beat Duncan on Saturday. If he doesn’t, Pinas just gained a reason to say the name again.
