UFC contender Arnold Allen on Max Holloway fight: ‘If we’re talking straight boxing, I’m better’

Arnold Allen has backed himself to out-strike Max Holloway on Saturday, when the British featherweight takes on a man who calls himself “the best boxer in the UFC”.

That is what Holloway shouted to the commentary team through the Octagon fence while landing a record number of strikes, in a decision win over Calvin Kattar in January 2021.

Some view Holloway, a former UFC featherweight champion, as the division’s greatest ever fighter, even in spite of his three points losses to current title holder Alexander Volkanovski over the last three years. In any case, if Allen, ranked fourth at 145lbs, can beat the Hawaiian in their Fight Night main event this weekend, the Ipswich fighter will edge closer to a title shot.

“I really enjoyed that streak [Holloway] went on, taking out all the top contenders,” Allen told reporters in February. “That 13-fight streak he went on is one of the better streaks there’s been in the UFC. That was pretty incredible.”

Holloway (23-7) won 13 straight bouts between 2014 and 2018, winning the featherweight belt from Hall of Famer Jose Aldo in 2017 before retaining the gold against the Brazilian, Brian Ortega, and former UFC champion Frankie Edgar. Allen, at 29, is two years younger than Holloway and earlier in his journey, but he has now won 12 fights in a row and his own legacy would be greatly enhanced with a victory over the fan favourite, whose striking skills Allen (19-1) respects but does not fear.

“If we’re talking straight boxing, I think [I’m better],” he said. “MMA is a different sport, and it doesn’t really translate, but yeah, I think so.

“I’m not gonna stand there and go blow for blow; I’m gonna move out the way, make you miss, and make you pay. I think Calvin landed a crazy amount of shots on him in that [2021] fight as well. They both sort of just obliged each other, stood in each other’s punching range; I ain’t doing that!”

After securing his most significant win so far by knocking out Dan Hooker in Round 1 last March, at UFC London, Allen himself went on to beat Kattar in October. Although the fight ended when Kattar suffered an injury early in the second round, Allen was winning most of the exchanges up to that point and many have suggested that his pressure was a factor in Kattar damaging his own knee.

Either way, Allen was deprived of the statement win he sought in his first UFC main event, and he will attempt to secure a victory of that nature when he headlines against Holloway at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

When asked whether Holloway’s chin is on the verge of ‘going’, given the striker with the greatest output in UFC history has also taken his fair share of shots, Allen said he will look to find out in person, when he will try to become the first man to knock out the Hawaiian.

“It’s definitely a factor,” he said. “It’s not like football, where you can play week-in, week-out, and if you lose 10 games in a row you take no damage. Your body gets damaged, your brain gets hurt, everything takes impact. You’re more susceptible to cuts, scar tissue, and all that stuff.

“One thing a coach of mine said to me before was... it was more for young guys in the gym, taking shots by being silly, putting their hands down and stuff, but he said: ‘If someone told you there was a total number of shots you could take until your chin was gone, every shot would count.’ If someone said, ‘You’ve got 100 shots until your chin goes,’ you’d respect every shot. The thing is: That is a reality, we just don’t know the number. Everyone’s different.”

Allen will hope that Holloway’s number is up.

Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos.