Allen’s forward momentum towards the division’s elite saw him defeated in back-to-back fights by Anthony Hernandez and Nassourdine Imavov. But he bounced back earlier this year with a hard-earned decision win over old foe Marvin Vettori in a rematch.
And when an opportunity arose to step into the main event in Canada against top-four opposition, Allen didn’t hesitate, and as the fight unfolded at Rogers Arena, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was Allen who’d had the full training camp, and de Ridder who’d come in on short notice.
Allen had to deal with a tricky opening round as de Ridder scored a quick takedown and dominated position, without threatening too much, in a round where Allen was unable to establish any offense.
But that all changed from Round 2 onward as Allen quickly took over, using his strikes in the stand-up, and his strength in the clinch, to sap de Ridder’s gas tank alarmingly quickly.
Allen maintained the pressure through the second and third rounds to such an extent that there were question marks over whether de Ridder could continue into the final two rounds.
In the end, the Dutchman emerged for Round 4, but after another punishing round, de Ridder’s corner decided enough was enough and instructed referee Jason Herzog to wave off the contest between rounds.
It was a huge win for Allen, who immediately called out reigning champion Khamzat Chimaev, as well as former champions Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland. Whoever he gets next, it’ll be a big fight.
The co-main event saw Mike Malott defeat Kevin Holland via unanimous decision in a fight that was marred by two nasty groin shots delivered by the Canadian to Holland, who came close to failing to answer the call after the five-minute timeout.
Despite the two fouls, with the second looking especially bad, referee Dan Miragliotta opted not to take a point from Malott, and that decision eventually proved crucial, as the Canadian contender claimed the biggest win of his career, with scores of 29-28 across the board. Had the point deduction been made, the fight would have ended in a draw.
But Malott moves on, and will look to continue his climb up the talent-packed welterweight division.
Also on the main card, Aiemann Zahabi battled tooth and nail with Marlon Vera before edging a super-close split-decision verdict in a fight that really could have gone either way.
But there was no doubt over Manon Fiorot and Charles Jourdain’s fights, with both producing brilliant first-round finishes.
Fiorot needed just 74 seconds to rock, then finish Canada’s Jasmine Jasudavicius, while Jourdain badly hurt Davey Grant with a flying knee before eventually securing the victory via guillotine choke submission.
The opening main card bout of the night saw Kyle Nelson earn a unanimous decision victory over Matt Frevola in a fight that, in reality, should have ended in a first-round TKO victory for the Canadian.
Nelson was battering Frevola as the final second counted down at the end of the first round and, when nothing coming back from Frevola, referee Miragliotta stepped in to stop the fight with three seconds left on the clock.
However, the two fighters were then sent to their corners and told the fight was still on. Miragliotta had seemingly thought he’d heard a horn that hadn’t sounded and stopped the fight early, thinking it was the end of the round.
In truth, the bout could and should have been stopped there and then, with Nelson getting the TKO victory, but the bout continued, and Nelson had to bring down his euphoria and get back into fight mode again. He duly did exactly that and went on to win the fight on the scorecards, and in the process avoid what would have been one of the most controversial results of the year.
The preliminary card served up a feast of finishes, with six of the seven undercard fights producing finishes.
In the featured prelim, Drew Dober responded to a third-round point deduction for a groin shot in the perfect manner as, knowing that the scorecards were against him, he went all-out for the finish, and got it, as he overwhelmed Kyle Prepolec with strikes.
Also on the preliminary card, Chinese bantamweight Aoriqileng needed just 21 seconds to finish veteran Cody Gibson, while Bruno Silva finished South Korea’s Park HyunSung via third-round rear-naked choke.
The third round was the round of choice for preliminary card finishes, with three more Round 3 stoppages, for Stephanie Luciano, for Yousri Belgaroui and for Melissa Croden, who all claimed inside-the-distance victories.
UFC Vancouver: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Brendan Allen def. Reinier de Ridder via TKO (retirement) – Round 4, 5:00
- Mike Malott def. Kevin Holland via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Aiemann Zahabi def. Marlon Vera via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Manon Fiorot def. Jasmine Jasudavicius via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:14
- Charles Jourdain def. Davey Grant via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 3:05
- Kyle Nelson def. Matt Frevola via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Drew Dober def. Kyle Prepolec via TKO (elbows and punches) – Round 3, 1:16
- Aoriqileng def. Cody Gibson via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:21
- Bruno Silva def. Park HyunSung via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:15
- Djorden Ribeiro dos Santos def. Danny Barlow via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Stephanie Luciano def. Ravena Oliveira via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:50
- Yousri Belgaroui def. Azamat Bekoev via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 0:55
- Melissa Croden def. Tainara Lisboa via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:32
