Fifteen of the 22 fighters on tonight's UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas lost their last fight. The main event is the exception. Brendan Allen and Christian Leroy Duncan arrive with eight straight wins between them, ranked number 5 and number 10 at middleweight.
UFC Fight Night Allen vs Duncan start time
The card is at the Meta Apex and has 11 bouts, six on the prelims and five on the main card. The prelims start at 5 p.m. ET, which is 23:00 CEST. The main card follows at 8 p.m. ET, 02:00 CEST on Sunday. With bouts spaced about 30 minutes apart, Allen and Duncan should walk at around 10 p.m. ET, 04:00 CEST.
Allen vs Duncan by the numbers
Allen, 30, is 27-7-0 and has won three in a row over Marvin Vettori, Reinier de Ridder and Edmen Shahbazyan. He is a grappler first. Of his 27 wins, 14 are submissions, and he averages 1.11 takedowns and 3:53 of control time per fight.
Duncan, 31, is 15-2-0 and on a five-fight winning streak, the last two by unanimous decision over Roman Dolidze and Jared Cannonier. Ten of his 15 wins are knockouts. He has a reach of 201 cm against Allen's 190, lands 56.88 per cent of his significant strikes and has never been finished: both of his losses are decisions.
The question the numbers raise is where the fight happens. Duncan completes 20 per cent of his own takedown attempts and has no need to grapple. Allen has to close an 11 cm reach gap to get to the part of the fight he wins. It is scheduled for five rounds. Allen went into a fourth round against de Ridder last October, while Duncan has not been past the third in any of his last five fights.
UFC Fight Night fight card
| Fight | Division | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Brendan Allen vs Christian Leroy Duncan | Middleweight | 27-7-0 / 15-2-0 |
| Jai Herbert vs Matheus Camilo | Lightweight | 14-6-1 / 11-3-0 |
| Ketlen Souza vs Loopy Godinez | Strawweight | 17-6-0 / 14-6-0 |
| Andre Fili vs Kai Kamaka III | Featherweight | 25-14-0, 1 NC / 17-7-1 |
| Malcolm Wellmaker vs Otari Tanzilov | Bantamweight | 10-2-0 / 10-2-0 |
| Gerald Meerschaert vs Julius Walker | Light Heavyweight | 37-22-0 / 7-3-0 |
| Francisco Prado vs Ismael Bonfim | Lightweight | 12-5-0 / 20-7-0 |
| Niko Price vs Leon Shahbazyan | Welterweight | 16-11-0, 2 NC / 10-5-0 |
| Felipe Franco vs Brendson Ribeiro | Light Heavyweight | 11-2-0 / 17-11-0, 1 NC |
| Dariya Zheleznyakova vs Alice Pereira | Bantamweight | 10-3-0 / 7-1-0 |
| Melissa Gatto vs Ernesta Kareckaitė | Flyweight | 9-3-2 / 6-2-1 |
A card full of fighters who need a win
In six of the 11 bouts, both fighters are coming off a defeat. Some of the runs are long. Gerald Meerschaert has lost five in a row and, at 38, takes his 37-22-0 record into a light heavyweight bout against Julius Walker, who has lost his last two. Francisco Prado has dropped four straight and meets Ismael Bonfim, who has dropped three. Niko Price and Brendson Ribeiro are both on four-fight losing streaks.
Ribeiro has the hardest draw of that group. Felipe Franco is 25, 11-2-0, and every one of his 11 wins is a finish.
Only two bouts match winners with winners: the main event, and Jai Herbert against Matheus Camilo in the co-main. Herbert is 38, the joint oldest fighter on the card with Meerschaert, and Camilo is 25. Both won their last fight by first-round TKO. The youngest fighter of the night is Alice Pereira, 20, who is 7-1-0 and faces Dariya Zheleznyakova on the prelims.
What a win means at middleweight
The division above them is stuck. Champion Sean Strickland said on 9 October that he will not fight until his pay dispute with the UFC is settled, according to MMA Fighting, and the expected challenger, Nassourdine Imavov, is still waiting for a date. Imavov and Anthony Hernandez are the last two men to beat Allen.
That leaves the contenders to sort out the order among themselves. A sixth straight win for Duncan would come against a top-five opponent. A fourth straight for Allen keeps the number 5 spot his while the title picture clears.
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This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.