Whilst Arnold Allen earned the UD win at UFC 304, ‘Almighty’ wasn’t pleased with his opponent claiming the result was partially due to injury.
Arnold ‘Almighty’ Allen was under some significant pressure heading into UFC 304 as he stared down the barrel of a three-fight losing streak; albeit those two previous losses coming against elite warriors Max Holloway and Movsar Evloev.
Yet the fan favorite featherweight showed no signs of that pressure getting to him as he dominated Giga ‘Ninja’ Chikadze on the feet en route to a unanimous decision victory; 29-28 on all three of the judges’ scorecards.
Giga Chikadze claims he suffered torn shoulder in first round
An understandably dejected Chikadze took to Instagram earlier this morning to thank his global fanbase for their support, and to explain why he might not have looked his usual self in the second and third rounds against Allen.
“I had a really good fight yesterday, no excuse as I mentioned but probably, I need to inform you guys that at the end of the first round, I tear my right shoulder and in the second and third rounds, I could not lift my right hand.”
Chikadze stated that the torn shoulder would likely require surgery and that he’d already spoken to the UFC doctors about the extent of the injury.
“After the first round, it was really hard to stay in the fight because I could not use my right hand. I could not throw the punch, I could not block… Being a fighter, that’s part of the job you know, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”
Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for the video to reach Chikadze’s UFC 304 opponent, who dismissed the notion that the result was due to an injury suffered so early in the contest.
“This is not the way,” Arnold replied on X, before following up a few minutes later by suggesting that Chikadze likely hadn’t received a diagnosis from UFC doctors as the video claimed.
“Also, how’s he know [that] he needs surgery – I think I broke my hand in the first round too but I’m still waiting for an MRI and X-ray etc… UFCs magic doctors must’ve screwed me.”
At the UFC 304 post-fight press conference, Allen had his left hand in a brace and noted that whilst he didn’t know whether it was broken, “It hurts and I’m p***** off.”
Despite the potential broken hand, ‘Almighty’ will now once again be looking up the rankings in the hope of regaining his spot in the featherweight title picture – so, who does Allen want to fight next?
What’s next for ‘Almighty’ Allen after his homecoming victory?
Speaking to Daniel Cormier inside the octagon after the judges’ scorecards were announced in his favor, Allen noted that the fights and fighters that he’d previously been asking for just weren’t coming together.
“Put me up there with the big boys, we asked for Yair Rodriguez, we asked for Brian Ortega and none of those fights happened, but I think Ortega’s matched now.”
At the post-fight press conference, Allen would offer an update as to how bad the aforementioned injury could be – with broken hands being a frustratingly common theme in his Almighty UFC career – and when he’d like to return.
“Stretch it out to December [that] would be nice, just to give this [hand] maximum recovery time – it feels very similar to what I’ve done before and that took a few months, so we’ll see.”
As of July 28, there are only two fighters ranked above Allen who don’t yet have their next fight booked – former title challenger Yair Rodriguez and former title holder Alexander Volkanovski.
Ilia Topuria (C) and Max Holloway (2) are expected to fight later this year in Utah, Brian Ortega (3) has a fight booked for UFC Noche against Diego Lopes (12), with Movsar Evloev (5) set to face Aljamain Sterling (8) at UFC 307.
With the win at UFC 304, Allen improves his professional record to 20-3.