Brendan Allen has taken aim at Dricus Du Plessis following Du Plessis’ victory over Kamaru Usman in the UFC Fight Night 281 headliner at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, accusing the South African of catching veterans at the tail end of their careers and sidestepping a matchup with him.
Allen argued that Du Plessis benefited from timing against Usman, saying, "Usman is one of the best to ever do it at welterweight, but we're still living off of that," and adding, "He's almost 40 years old, up a weight class. You can tell the size difference. Usman probably didn't cut but three or four pounds maybe. I don't know. He looked slow. He looked stiff. It looks like he can't train anymore. Everyone talks about his knees, but he says he's good."
The middleweight contender also criticized how Du Plessis views his résumé, stating, "That is not the same guy we used to see. You've got Dricus who's sitting over here like, 'I just beatKamaru Usman. I beat (Israel Adesanya).' You beat them at the end of their career. You didn't beat them when they were in their prime, killing it. You're not fighting these young, hungry guys. To me, he's got the best matchups. I've tried to fight him since he got in the UFC."
Allen claimed a bout with Du Plessis was on the books for January before it fell apart. "We were supposed to be good to go January. I was told we were set, we were done, good to go," Allen said, adding, "I was told that all the way up till middle-end of February, and then everything started getting rocky. Next thing you know, it came out that Usman and him were fighting. It's like he said yes to me, but he took – to me, it's the easier fight. Kamaru's older, he's beat down, he's coming up a weight class, he's not as hungry."
Allen, who has over 40 fights in his career and is coming off a unanimous decision win over Edmen Shahbazyan at UFC Fight Night 278 in June, emphasized how strongly he feels about the situation: "For sure, and I've never said that about anybody," and, "I've got over 40 fights, never said that about anyone – never. I hate that term, too."
