LAS VEGAS – Arnold Allen thinks his UFC Fight Night 213 win over Calvin Kattar provided no clarification in the title picture.
Allen (17-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) defeated Kattar by TKO in their featherweight main event at the UFC Apex. Although he looked good in Round 1, it was a Kattar knee injury that led to the fight-ending sequence quickly into Round 2.
Yair Rodriguez recently earned a TKO win over Brian Ortega, also due to injury, so Allen isn’t sure who should be considered the next title challenger.
“Obviously there was the injury with Yair and Brian and then Calvin. (Josh) Emmett (vs. Kattar), it was a real close decision,” Allen told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 213 post-fight news conference. “I wanted the performance to stand out so I could actually ask (for a title shot): ‘Look, this deserves it more than that and that.’ But now I’m in the same boat. We might as well all hang out together and talk about it.”
Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski likely will chase a second belt next with a likely lightweight title fight with new champion Islam Makhachev. If that happens, Allen hopes he can be one-half of an interim title fight – but against whom is the question he’s pondering.
“I don’t have an opinion on it,” Allen said. “Everyone’s getting dodgy wins and weird things. It’s hard to say who deserves it. I don’t know. Whoever.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 213.
