Preview: UFC 297 ‘Strickland vs. Du Plessis’

Featherweights

#9 FW | Movsar Evloev (17-0, 7-0 UFC) vs. #4 FW | Arnold Allen (19-2, 10-1 UFC)

ODDS: Evloev (-180), Allen (+150)

This might be the best fight on the card, as two featherweights on the verge of 30 each look for their biggest win to date. Allen’s rise has been a slow one, and while it’s unclear how much of that has been by design, it’s certainly worked out for the Englishman. Signed as a raw 21-year-old in 2015, Allen typically fought about once per calendar year when the UFC would swing by Europe, at which point Allen would look slightly improved in a win and then become a forgotten man until the next time the UFC called his number. For the first few years, it was hard to get a feel for Allen’s game even though he was an obvious physical talent. He’d successfully gut through his fights and sometimes find a finish but only after letting his opponents dictate the terms of combat more often than not. Around the time of his 2019 bout against Gilbert Melendez, Allen seemingly started to settle in as a patient range striker willing to take opponents apart at a slow pace, keeping his wrestling in his back pocket until it became necessary to break out. Allen continued his slow march upward from there, with a 2021 win over Sodiq Yusuff signaling his arrival as a full-on contender, but 2022 seemed to be the breakout year where “Almighty” finally put everything together, upping the pace in a one-sided beating of Dan Hooker and an entertaining scrap against Calvin Kattar that unfortunately ended in a Kattar injury. Allen finally suffered his first UFC loss against Max Holloway last April but acquitted himself quite well in the process. Holloway has handily turned back everyone but Alexander Volkanovski, but Allen held his own for five rounds to a level that few can do against the former champ and simply got outpaced. Allen’s still just days short of his 30th birthday, and his performance against Holloway did nothing to dissuade the thought that he’ll be part of the title picture for years going forward, though a win against Evloev would still be quite nice.

Given how readymade he seemed for title contention upon hitting the UFC in 2019, it’s a bit of a surprise that Evloev hasn’t already made it to the championship mix by now, though, like Allen, his progress has been slowed a bit thanks to an inactive schedule. Evloev only had four and a half years as a professional under his belt in his UFC debut, but he put together an undefeated record against a strong level of competition on the Russian scene, and his game easily translated inside of the Octagon. Evloev’s wrestling is his Plan A, B and C, and his first few UFC fights saw him essentially find takedowns at will. Evloev’s two fights in 2021 did raise some minor causes for concern, though it’s still hard to complain about what were some one-sided victories. His aggression put him in some poor grappling positions against Nik Lentz, and he started to flag a bit against Hakeem Dawodu. Evloev then put a lot of those worries to rest with his 2022 win over Dan Ige, a complete performance where the Russian also showed off his ability as an effective striker. Even so, a 2023 victory over Diego Lopes—a go-everywhere scrapper that was able to cause a lot of moments of danger in a losing effort—did show that those issues still persist. It’s still unclear how much those concerns are simply nitpicks and if they’ll actually hold Evloev back from competing at a championship level, but after the last few years have seen some high-level bookings fall through for Evloev, this pairing should answer a lot of those questions. Allen hasn’t really faced a relentless wrestler like Evloev since he has rounded into this high-level form. Those fights were probably the toughest wins of the Englishman’s UFC career to date, so there’s a chance that Evloev could just win this in a grind. While Evloev is an effective striker, he does tend to get hit a lot while marching through offense to try and force things. Assuming Allen can provide any sort of wrestling resistance, it’s easy to see him landing some big moments of offense while dictating range and forcing Evloev to come forward. Even if Evloev can get this to the mat, Allen has enough pure physical strength that he might be too difficult for the Russian to control. Evloev does have a clear path to victory that could wind up dominant in practice, but Allen does look like a complete enough fighter to get things done here. The pick is Allen via decision.

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Strickland vs. Du Plessis
Bueno Silva vs. Pennington
Malott vs. Magny
Curtis vs. Barriault
Evloev vs. Allen
The Prelims