Brendan Allen is confident he has the edge over Reinier de Ridder everywhere.
With Anthony Hernandez out due to injury, Allen (25-7 MMA, 13-4 UFC) will step in on about a month’s notice to face de Ridder (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 262 headliner Oct. 18 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver (ESPN+).
Allen recently snapped a two-fight losing skid against Hernandez and Nassourdine Imavov by defeating Marvin Vettori at UFC 318 in July. Meanwhile, de Ridder notched a marquee win over former champion Robert Whittaker in the UFC on ABC 9 headliner, but Allen wasn’t impressed.
“I think I’ll break him because I’m better everywhere,” Allen said of de Ridder on his Instagram. “I don’t think he can strike better than me. I don’t think he’s tougher than me. I don’t think his grappling’s better than me. A lot of guys are scared of his grappling. I’m not scared at all.
“He’s pretty tough for a little while, but again, I don’t think he’s fought anyone like me. I think Whittaker is kind of washed, to be honest. He’s never fought a young, hungry guy like me that’s just as big as him. I have a lot of respect for him for not hiding behind his number. He didn’t have to take this fight. Big respect to him.”
Both Allen and de Ridder train at Kill Cliff FC, but de Ridder revealed to MMA Junkie that they never spent any significant time on the mats because Allen never wanted to train with him.
