This column has been a place of praise for Brendan Allen for several years at this point, and he continues to live up to the high expectations placed on him.
Although many other people have been slow to come around on Allen (23-5 MMA, 11-2 UFC), his performance against Craig started to open eyes and turn heads that he’s a contender to be taken seriously in the middleweight division.
There’s been a couple of rough points for Allen during his UFC tenure, but those are starting to feel like a distant memory after his third-round submission of Craig, which extended his overall winning streak to six fights, including four by rear-naked choke.
Finding criticisms for Allen on this one are tough. He showed some evolution on the feet, and went straight into the fire against the strongest point of Craig’s game – then finished him there. What more could you ask for him out of the 27-year-old? Not much.
The recognition and opportunities Allen has been working toward are starting to come around for real now, and the next stage of his career is going to be the most serious. Title eliminators, title shots, title defences and more are right within his grasp, but this is the level-up fighters historically have the most trouble dealing with. I’m confident Allen is equipped for it, but only time will tell.
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This story originally appeared on MMA Junkie