Brendan Allen’s camp waited until the fight was won to show what he was carrying into it. A teammate shared photos of a staph infection Allen dealt with during fight week, MMA Mania reported, and Heavy also reported that Team Allen disclosed a fight-week illness ahead of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 122 headliner. Neither outlet’s headline names the teammate, and the text of the post wasn’t available in what I’ve seen, so I’ll stick to what’s confirmed. There was an infection. It happened during fight week. Allen fought anyway.
He also won, which is the part that makes this a fun story instead of a sad one. Allen submitted Christian Leroy Duncan in the fifth round on October 10, with Bovada posting on X that the finish came by rear-naked choke. Championship Rounds also flagged the Round 5 finish on X. A five-round fight is a lot of cardio to ask of a healthy man. Doing it with a staph infection and still having the gas to lock up a choke that late is a different level of stubborn.
On paper this was a coin flip. Before the card, Championship Rounds gave Allen a 52% chance to beat Duncan, who came in riding a five-fight win streak. That’s about as close as a main event gets, and it was priced that way before anybody outside the camp knew Allen was sick. If that news had leaked Tuesday, I suspect the number would’ve drifted toward Duncan, and anyone who took the slide would be grumbling right now. Fight-week health rumors move lines. This one stayed quiet, and Allen made the silence pay.
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Allen is 28-7 and sits No. 11 at middleweight in the Knockout Daily rankings. The Kill Cliff FC fighter is a former two-time LFA middleweight champion who earned his UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019 with a first-round submission of Aaron Jeffery. The submissions have been there from the beginning. Kevin Holland, Karl Roberson and Sam Alvey all tapped to him in the UFC before Duncan joined the list.
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What’s next is open. Dovy asked on X who Allen should fight next, and no opponent has been reported. Snapping a five-fight streak in a main event should get him a ranked name. I’d like his camp to get the infection fully cleared before anyone books the date, though.
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