The UFC wasted no time getting Brendan Allen a new fight after his bout with Ian Heinisch fell apart this past weekend.
Allen (15-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) has been booked against Sean Strickland at UFC Fight Night 182 on Saturday. The middleweight bout takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.
MMA Junkie verified the matchup with a person close to the situation after Allen announced the bout with Strickland (21-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) on social media. The person requested anonymity because the UFC has yet to officially announce the contest.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Brendan “All In” Allen (@b_allen185) on Nov 9, 2020 at 11:15am PST
“Lets try this again…..ITS FIGHT WEEK! Saturday night in Vegas i will fight Sean Strickland. It all happened super fast, but we got everything done and put together. Thank you SO much to the @ufc @danawhite and my guy @mickmaynard2 for working his tail off and taking super good care of me and getting me set up with a talented opponent Back to #lasvegas tomorrow to handle business! Thank you as well to everyone for the kind words and messages about my last opponent and everything that happened, i really appreciate the support!”
Allen’s fight at UFC on ESPN+ 40 was scratched on fight day after Heinisch returned a positive COVID-19 test that caused the contest to be canceled.
He now takes on Strickland, who is coming off a dominant unanimous decision win over Jack Marshman at UFC on ESPN+ 39 on Oct. 31.
With the addition, the latest UFC Fight Night 182 lineup now includes:
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. opponent TBA
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Khaos Williams
- Julian Marquez vs. Saparbek Safarov
- Eryk Anders vs. Antonio Arroyo
- Daniel Rodriguez vs. opponent TBA
- Kay Hansen vs. Cory McKenna
- Miranda Granger vs. Ashley Yoder
- Alex Morono vs. Rhys McKee
- Louis Smolka vs. Jose Quinonez
- Randa Markos vs. Kanako Murata
- Geraldo de Freitas vs. Tony Gravely
- Don’Tale Mayes vs. Roque Martinez
- Brendan Allen vs. Sean Strickland