Published 23:30 IST, September 28th 2024

Exclusive/ UFC Fighter Brendan Allen Reveals Intriguing Career Path He Would Have Taken Had MMA Not Worked Out

In an exclusive conversation with Republic World, UFC fighter Brendan Allen cut out a focused figure ahead of his fight against Nassourdine Imavov.

Reported by: Prateek Arya
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UFC Fighter Brendan Allen | Image: @b_allen185/instagram
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This week, UFC action will emanate from vibrant city of Paris. As usual, fight night features a stacked card, helined by highly anticipated Lightweight bout between Renato Moicano and Benoit Saint-Denis. While we'll keep an eye on main event and or contests, our primary focus is co-main event featuring Brendan Allen and Nassourdine Imavov.

Ranked No. 8 in Middleweight division, Brendan Allen enters Octagon with a seven-fight win streak in UFC. What ds to intrigue is that his opponent, Nassourdine Imavov, boasts a similarly impressive record and is ranked higher at No. 4 in Middleweight division. This sets stage for an exciting clash inside Octagon on Saturday, with winner taking a significant step toward a title shot.
To learn more about fight, Republic World got opportunity to have a one-to-one with Brendan Allen.

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28-year-old UFC fighter dressed all our questions and was expressive in his responses. Without furr o, here are excerpts from conversation.

Also Re | UFC reaches $375 million settlement on one class-action lawsuit

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Q. You enter this fight against Nassourdine Imavov on a 7-0 undefeated run stretching back to 2022. How high is your confidence running now?

I am confident. I think it's same as always anything can happen. I am just rey to find out on Saturday, what's gonnna happen. I don't control outcome, I am just gonna go out re and try to be myself, and hopefully don't get caught. I don't have any expectations, I just want to be best version of myself and see what happens on Saturday night overall.

Q. Imavov will have benefit of home support at UFC Paris. Is it extra motivation for you knowing that you could potentially silence home crowd?

I am not really thinking about it too much, I am just focused on fight itself. His abilities, my abilities, what I need to do, afterwards maybe I would look at it as maybe a good thing, a nice thing, but ultimately I am just super focused on him and his abilities, and me and my abilities.

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Q. You originally wanted main event slot on card. What changed and convinced you to take fight, given you h won last 3 main events you were in?

It's just a fight, I wanted fight, his number next to his name is most important thing, ultimately, it really doesn't matter. I just needed to fight up to have a top-5 guy, to go and beat a top-5 guy and have that on my resume.

Q. Given recent run of form you have been in, when do you intend staking a claim for a title shot against Dricus du Plessis?

Yes, hopefully, we’ll fight champion next—that’s ultimate goal.

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Q. You have a degree in Criminal Justice alongside your fighting career. What motivated you to pursue that degree, and could you walk us through your objectives for it?

I was fighting whole time I was in college. I've been fighting since I was in high school. A degree was just a backup plan, just in case if I ever needed to use it or want to use it. It just something that family told me that I always needed to do. I'll find criminal shows and detective work and stuff like that pretty interesting. It was something that I was interested in. Yeah, it is just my backup plan. 

*Watch UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Saint Denis on LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 2 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 3 SD & HD (Hindi), Sony Sports Ten 4 SD & HD (Tamil & Telugu) channels. Sony Sports Network is official brocaster of UFC in India
 
 

17:39 IST, September 28th 2024