Brendan Allen insists there’s no ‘bad blood’ with Marvin Vettori after their UFC 318 grudge match.
The UFC Middleweight contender had quite the homecoming at UFC 318, fighting in New Orleans, Louisiana, his home state.
The card itself was centered around Dustin Poirier’s retirement fight, with Louisiana natives Allen and Carli Judice getting their hands raised on the undercard.
A fight with Marvin Vettori had been a long time coming for Allen. Allen was scheduled to fight Vettori in April of last year before Vettori withdrew. The two middleweights first scrapped inside a casino and then later, the UFC Octagon, where Allen would squeak out a unanimous decision victory on Saturday.
Allen shouted out his brother immediately after the fight, who was sitting in a wheelchair cageside following an accident.
Allen’s opponent, Vettori, lost his younger brother, Patrick, in a house fire back in April.
Brendan Allen gave his condolences to Marvin Vettori right after their fight at UFC 318
Speaking at the UFC 318 post-fight press conference, Allen addressed what he said to Vettori in the Octagon following their fight.
“I just told him, our problems aside, my heart goes out to him and his family,” Allen told Bloody Elbow and other reporters backstage.
“My brother has his accident, and he totally lost his brother…
“I can’t imagine the pain that it feels to fully lose your brother. I didn’t lose mine fully, but it still hurts.”
Despite the sentiment, Allen says his Vettori’s team wasn’t having any of it.
“His coach just started talking s—” Allen added.
“It’s just people sticking their nose between two grown men.
“I don’t have any bad blood with him. He can say what he wants. He can feel how he wants before or after. That’s on him. He’s a grown man. I’m a grown man with kids.”
Brendan Allen snaps two-fight losing skid
Allen is back in the winner’s circle.
‘All in’ was thrown into the deep end of the pool after winning 8 fights in a row. Allen fought current #1 contender Nassourdine Imavov, taking the Frenchman to a closely-contested decision at UFC Paris last September.
Anthony Hernandez made it back-to-back losses for Allen in February, handing him another decision loss.
Allen also lost to middleweight contender Caio Borralho a week later, but that was a grappling match in Karate Combat.
Now, it’s all in the past as Allen tries to climb through the ranks of the UFC middleweight division.