LAS VEGAS – If Arnold Allen loses in the UFC Fight Night 213 main event, he’s convinced it won’t be because of experience.
Allen (18-1 MMA, 9-0 UFC) will compete in his first UFC headliner Saturday when he meets Kattar (23-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) in a critical featherweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.
Experiencing this stage for the first time not only comes with more media requests and spotlight, but five scheduled rounds instead of the ordinary three. For Kattar, that’s old hat. It will be his sixth time fighting a UFC main event, and he’s very familiar with this process.
That’s not always a beneficial thing, though. Kattar has gone the distance in each of his previous five headliners, and taken an abundance of damage in the process. Allen believes that could potentially make his job easier.
“I look at it as a positive,” Allen told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 213 media day. “He’s got miles on the clock. He’s had those five-round wars and even the fights he’s won, he’s taken a lot of damage. So I look at it as mileage.”
For Allen, this is truly a breakthrough opportunity. He’s won all nine of his UFC fights to date, but injuries, canceled fights and other factors have forced a slow burn. He made his octagon debut in June 2015, and has averaged roughly one fight per year since then.
It hasn’t been easy, but Allen said he has always kept faith he would get to this point.
“I always believed it was going to happen,” Allen said. “Even when I’m not competing, if I’ve got a broken hand or whatever, I’m in the gym training. I’m practicing a jab or throwing kicks if I’ve got no hands to throw. I’m always in the gym, I’m always getting better. I’m watching the division and seeing what’s going on.”
Allen is coming off a first-round TKO of Dan Hooker at UFC Fight Night 204 in March, however, and the matchup with Kattar comes with a rare chance to build momentum. Allen said he’s firing on all cylinders, and he’ll be trying to win in a dominant manner against a very durable foe.
“He’s dangerous in every fight,” Allen said. “There’s no quit in him. Even when he got battered by Max Holloway, he’s still trying to find a win the whole way through. There’s a big argument someone would’ve thrown the towel in, but he never quit. He was trying to win the whole way through it. So fair play. He’s as tough as he comes.
“I believe in my power. I believe if I can connect I can hurt anyone in the division. I can put anyone away in the division. But I’m prepared to do five rounds. And it’d be kinda good to do it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 213.
