Arnold Allen Proves He’s Still A Big Fish In UFC’s Featherweight Shark Tank
The UFC’s featherweight division is, pound-for-pound, the toughest weight class in combat sports right now. From undisputed champion Alexander Volkanovski, all the way down to Patricio Pitbull in 15th, the UFC’s 145-pound rankings are stacked from top to tail with legitimate, world-class talent.
We saw two of those ranked contenders fight on Saturday night, where Arnold Allen, who sits right in the middle of those rankings, at number seven, proved there’s a difference between simply having a number next to your name and being able to compete with the very best in the world at 145.
Allen has been in there with the current number-one contender Movsar Evloev, and arguably gave him his toughest night. He’s shared the Octagon with Jean Silva and battled toe-to-toe with the wild man of the division. And he also pushed one of the greatest champions in featherweight history, Max Holloway, to the limit in a thrilling main event in Kansas City a couple of years back. Put simply, Allen is a proven talent in this weight class, and nobody gets an easy ride against him.
Allen showed that he’s an elite operator once again this past weekend when he defeated a streaking Melquizael Costa in the main event of UFC Vegas 117 at Meta APEX. The fight went the distance, and Costa certainly didn’t disgrace himself with his performance. But the Brazilian just didn’t have quite enough for Allen, who proved to be too strong in all areas.
For a fighter as well-rounded, talented, and battle-tested as Allen to only be ranked seventh in his division tells you everything you need to know about the featherweight class in 2026. It’s a shark tank, and while he might not be the biggest talker in the division, Allen is certainly one of the big fish in that group. I’d love to see him in there with Diego Lopes one day – the stylistic matchup is a guaranteed barnburner – but with Lopes taking on Steve Garcia at the White House, matchups with either Aljamain Sterling or Yair Rodriguez would make sense from a rankings standpoint.
Sterling has already defeated Brian Ortega and Youssef Zalal within the last 12 months, and to be fair, he probably deserves to fight someone ranked above him, so he’s likely off the table. But a fight between Allen and Rodriguez screams fireworks, and would be a hell of a Fight Night main event, either in Mexico or the UK, a little further down the line.
MVP looked like a Strikeforce reboot, and I’m fine with that
Nostalgia was in the air as MVP made their first foray into the world of live mixed martial arts as Netflix hosted its first major MMA event at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
The overall production of the event, including the hexagonal cage, evoked memories of the old Strikeforce promotion that was a West Coast mainstay in the early 2000s. Indeed, this event did feel a lot like a Strikeforce reboot, and, to be honest, that’s not really a bad thing.
I’m a huge fan of Mauro Ranallo on commentary, and I thought he meshed well with Kenny Florian, who is no stranger to the color commentary role down the years. The overall Netflix presentation was pretty good, but the only thing I’d like to see tightened up was the overall pacing of the event. If you have to put a countdown clock on the screen to tell people when the next fight is, that means the wait is already too long.
It’ll be very interesting to see what MVP’s plans are for MMA moving forward. But on a busy night for combat sports (I watched OKTAGON, Matchroom Boxing, UFC, and MVP, often with the use ot two screens), it was a welcome addition. They won’t be challenging the UFC anytime soon, but there’s certainly an opportunity for MVP to add value to the MMA space, and I hope they do. Any time there are more opportunities for fighters to compete, shine, and get paid, that’s a good thing.
