UFC boss Dana White thinks Arnold Allen put his foot on the gas too late in his defeat to Max Holloway this past weekend.
Allen, 29, suffered his lone UFC defeat at the hands of former champion Holloway, 31, in Kansas City as the Brit was beaten by unanimous decision on the night. The judges scored the fight 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47 in favour of Holloway, with Allen coming out all guns blazing in the final round as 'Almighty' knew he was down on the scorecards.
White recognised that Allen held his own in the fight but thinks the Brit's coaches should have urged him to up his output earlier on in the fight. “I thought he looked good,” White said of Allen. “He kept the pace, kept the distance, controlled the tempo of the fight. I thought that Allen looked incredible. If you think about it, it’s his first big night ever in a main event, the whole crowd’s against him and he came on too late.
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“If he’d have fought the way he fought in the fifth round from the third round on, he would have had a better chance of winning that fight. I don't even want to get into that s***. I’m not a cornerman or a coach, but I think there should have been a sense of urgency earlier, but I’m not a cornerman."
Allen was unbeaten in 10 UFC fights heading into his pivotal featherweight clash against Holloway, previously picking up wins against the likes of Calvin Kattar and Dan Hooker. The Suffolk-born fighter has now suffered a major setback in his chances of fighting for the division's featherweight titles, which is currently held by Alexander Volkanovski.
White said Allen has still proved his worth as a top contender at 145lb and expects the Brit to bounce back if he makes the necessary adjustments for his next fight. "I don't care about the guys who necessarily get out there on social media and talk," White added. "In this business it's all about how you fight, are you good enough?
"Let me tell how hard it is to break into the top five, especially in that weight class, and he's done that. He's a talented guy, I think there were a lot of mistakes made tonight in the corner, but he's got that experience under his belt now. He has to go back, figure out went out wrong, go and fix it."
