Brendan Allen will fight Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Paris on September 28, despite initially insisting on a main event slot, with Renato Moicano and Benoit Saint Denis headlining the event.
Brendan Allen will be fighting Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Paris after all.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Allen and Imavov are set to face off at the Paris event on Sept. 28 at Accor Arena. Fight Minds first reported the booking.
Allen previously stated that he would not fight Imavov at the event unless they were the main event. Despite that, a lightweight showdown between Renato Moicano and Benoit Saint Denis is still expected to serve as UFC Paris’ five-round headliner.
Allen has won an impressive seven fights in a row, including defeating Chris Curtis via unanimous decision in a Fight of the Year contender in the main event of UFC Vegas 90 in April.
Prior to that, the No. 8 middleweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings submitted Paul Craig in the third round of the UFC Vegas 82 headliner this past November.
Imavov is coming off back-to-back main event wins of his own, most recently earning a third-round TKO victory over Jared Cannonier at UFC Louisville in June.
The No. 11 ranked fighter in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings also earned a decision win over Roman Dolidze at UFC Vegas 85 in February.
Damon Martin contributed to this report.