No. 10-ranked UFC middleweight fighter Brendan Allen lambasted the move of Khamzat Chimaev to the No.8 position on the list. In his recent interview on this week’s media day, Allen didn’t hide his disappointment, sending a message to those responsible for the rank he called “bullsh*t.*
To recall, Chimaev moved to a higher rank after defeating Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 in October. UFC president Dana White declared Chimaev vs. Usman a No. 1 contender’s fight for champion Sean Strickland, but many are disappointed about this. That includes 27-year-old Allen, who explained why Chimaev’s rank boost is irrational.
“It wasn’t a middleweight fight,” Allen explained. “They weighed in at ’85, but they’re both 170s. I don’t know how you rank – I don’t know if anyone here’s on the panel, but if you do, I don’t like you. I’m just going to be honest.
“It’s bullsh*t. This guy hasn’t beat an ’85er. He hasn’t beat an ’85er, especially a ranked ’85er. He beat the No. 1 170 guy. Cool, congratulations. I think everyone can agree a five-round fight, Kamaru wins, and that was off the couch. Keep him at ’70 and rank him No. 1, OK do that. This is a different thing.”
Allen is not the only one with the same belief. Prior to him, Strickland himself also said that upcoming opponent Dricus Du Plessis deserves the shot instead of the Russian.
“Dricus is like, so awkward, he’s good,” Strickland said on his YouTube channel. “Where it’s like, you know, I’m a million times better than him. I spar guys he’s fought, I know who he is. But he’s so awkward, he’s good.
“It’s going to be a f*cking war. He’ll be a tougher fight than Chimaev. Chimaev, he doesn’t f*cking deserve it. We all know that. The only reason why Chimaev gets that shot is because he sells a lot of tickets. That’s it.”
Allen also criticized the problematic ranking of UFC, describing its current status as a “political bullsh*t” and “not off of skill.” Strickland echoed the same view.
“They’ve been doing a lot of f*ckery lately with rankings and bullsh*t,” said the middleweight champ. “Just f*cking wrong, man. We need to go back to a professional sport where rankings matter because as of now, rankings mean f*ck-all sh*t.”
