Kansas City, Mo – This past Saturday night in the headliner of UFC Kansas City, we saw a pivotal matchup in the featherweight division. Former featherweight champion Max Holloway (24-7) was taking on surging top contender Arnold Allen (19-2) who was looking to earn a title shot.
Entering Saturday night, Allen had won ten fights in a row inside the octagon. The last time we had saw him was last year when he had a headliner against Calvin Kattar. In that fight, Kattar suffered an injury early in the second round which ended the fight early.
There were a lot of questions regarding Allen’s gas tank entering this matchup. If there’s anyone who can test your gas tank, it’s going to be Max Holloway. The moment didn’t prove to be too big as Allen was game on Saturday night.
However, he didn’t fight with enough urgency through the first four rounds. Allen did have success, but Holloway was outlanding him in every category. In the fifth round, his corner pleaded with him to come on strong and that’s exactly what he did.
Allen had a ton of success in the final round at UFC Kansas City. However, he couldn’t pull out a finish and all three judges gave the fight to Holloway. Worth nothing that all three judges gave the final round to Allen.
What’s next after UFC Kansas City?
Allen doesn’t lose much in terms of his standing in the featherweight division after UFC Kansas City. Allen went five rounds with the former champion and it was a very competitive fight. Holloway just once again proved that he’s the second best featherweight in the division.
So, what does the promotion do with Arnold Allen after this fight? Unlike with Holloway, there are a lot of options for Arnold Allen. There is one option that jumps off the page if you’re asking me. I think the perfect fight for Allen is against former two-time title challenger Brian Ortega.
Ortega is working his way back from injury, but T-City is currently ranked third in the division while Allen comes in at fourth. Considering a lot of the options around Allen are booked up and their position in the division, I think this is the perfect fight for both men.