Brendan Allen Was Stunned By Reinier de Ridder Not Getting Off The Stool: “He has to live with that”
Brendan Allen was shocked to see Reinier de Ridder refuse to get off his stool.
Following a gritty split-decision win over Robert Whittaker earlier this year, ‘RDR’ was primed to score his first UFC title opportunity. All he had to do was get past replacement opponent Brendan Allen in the UFC Vancouver main.
Unfortunately for de Ridder, that proved to be too difficult a task.
After getting properly pummeled in rounds three, four, and five, the Dutchman declined to get off his stool ahead of the fifth and final stanza, handing Allen the biggest win of his mixed martial arts career.
“I don’t expect another man that’s number five in the world at the best promotion in the world, the biggest promotion in the world, to quit on the stool,” Allen told Submission Radio while looking back on the anti-climactic finish. “So, um, again, like I said before, to other people, he has to live with that. If he’s all right with it, God bless him, but that’s on him.”
Brendan Allen knew he’d broken ‘RDR’
The victory skyrocketed Allen up the middleweight rankings, stealing de Ridder’s No. 5 spot and dropping ‘RDR’ back down to No. 8.
“I said I would break him going into the fight, and I’ve broke guys before; they just kind of like, just let things kind of happen, but never have I went with someone that they didn’t answer the bell. So, yeah, man. It’s very weird.
“I was listening to my corner still when I saw his like, like out of my peripheral. I saw his corner, you know, like wave it off, and then I saw him throw the towel. By the time they threw the towel, I knew it was, it was over. So I was shocked, but I also kind of expected in that moment because leading up to that moment, my corner was like, ‘Look he can’t even get off the ground, like he’s still sitting there.’ Uh, so I kind of expected it.”
While Allen finds himself potentially one win away from his first crack at the 185-pound crown, de Ridder announced that he would be taking some time off after competing five times in the last 11 months.
