UFC star Arnold Allen has jokingly called for an 'injurim' featherweight title fight with Yair Rodriguez after the pair both recently picked up freak wins.
Allen, 28, extended his unbeaten run in the UFC to 10 fights last weekend when he defeated Calvin Kattar in Las Vegas, who was unable to continue after suffering a knee injury in the second round. It's a similar ending to Rodriguez's last fight as Brian Ortega suffered a shoulder injury in their fight and Allen has now called for a 'injurim' title fight between the pair following their freak wins.
"I saw something about me being ranked fourth now, so I'd like to be fighting for the interim title in the next six to eight months," Allen said. "A couple of guys are ranked above me, Yair Rodriguez has put his name firmly in the hat for the interim. [Josh] Emmett and [Max] Holloway as well, but I don't think they'd put Holloway in for the interim. If there's going to be an interim title, I want to be one half of it so that's the goal.
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"I think both of their [Emmett and Rodriguez's] styles suit me pretty good, I'm sort of malleable in my style and both of them are stand-up fighters. I can adjust quite well to strikers. Yair got an injury win as well so I'm calling it the 'injurim' title, it makes sense."
Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski looks to become a two-weight champion in his next fight as he moves up to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title, with UFC 284 on February 12 being the targeted date for the title clash. UFC legend Daniel Cormier thinks Allen deserves to fight for the interim 145lb title in his next fight, but wants to see him face Emmett instead of Rodriguez.
"Josh Emmett does deserve an interim title fight also. Those guys should not have to wait for the champion as he tries to chase down greatness," Cormier said on the DC & RC show. "Give the champion an opportunity to do something truly special but allow for the weight class to continue to move and see if something shows itself.
"I don’t like when a guy has to win double digit fights in the UFC in order to earn a championship opportunity. It seems like way too long and I would like to see Allen fighting for some portion of the championship against Emmett, preferably in Australia, right underneath Volkanovski fighting against Makhachev.”
