Former two-division ONE Championship titleholder and No. 4 ranked middleweight contender Reinier de Ridder faced No. 9 ranked Brandan Allen in Saturday’s UFC Vancouver main event.
De Ridder entered the fight riding a five-fight winning streak. He defeated former champion Robert Whittaker in his last outing. Allen made the walk to the octagon inside Rogers Arena coming off a decision win over former title challenger Marvin Vettori.
De Ridder wasted no time closing the distance. The two worked inside the clinch. De Ridder tripped Allen to the ground and immediately advanced to the mount. De Ridder took his time and delivered short punches to the body. Allen rolled and de Ridder took his back. De Ridder applied a body triangle and began landing punches. All remained calm. De Ridder hammered away with punches. Allen scramble at the bell. MMAWeekly scored the round 10-9 for de Ridder.
Allen pressured de Ridder in the second frame but found himself in the clinch. They worked for position along the cage and de Ridder pulled Allen to the canvas. Allen rolled to try to stand and reversed de Ridder. Allen connected with a hard elbow. Allen moved to side control and delivered punches. MMAWeekly scored the round 10-9 for Allen.
Allen came out pressuring de Ridder in the third. De Ridder quickly took Allen down and took his back. He applied a body triangle. Allen worked to control an arm. Allen spun and gained top position with just over three minutes remaining in the round. Allen moved to side control and connected with right hands. De Ridder rolled to his back and got back to full guard. De Ridder locked in on inverted triangle but Allen popped his head out. MMAWeekly scored the round 10-9 for Allen.
De Ridder was slow to get to his feet and appeared to be fatigued.
Allen immediately changed levels and took de Ridder down. Allen delivered short elbows from the top. De Ridder worked to isolate an arm. Allen got his arm free and delivered a hard right hand. Allen moved to side control. De Ridder rolled and gave up his back. He rolled to his ack and Allen moved tor side control. MMAWeekly scored the round 10-9 for Allen.
De Ridder was extremely slow getting up. The referee warned him that if he couldn’t make it back to his corner that it was over. He got up and slowly made it to his stool. The referee stopped the fight because de Ridder was unable to continue. After the referee stopped it, de Ridder’s corner threw in the towel.
