The spotlight shined bright on Brendan Allen as he scored a huge win over Andre Muniz. South Carolina’s submission specialist got the added boost of being elevated to the main event of UFC Fight Night 220, and he made it count submitting Muniz in the third round.
Muniz was a significant favorite against the unranked Allen, winning his last nine and earning the reputation of being the middleweight division’s scariest submission artist. With wins over the likes of Uriah Hall is his last fight and Ronaldo Souza at UFC 262. As the #11 middleweight, many expected Muniz to tangle with the top-tier of the division in short order.
Allen had other plans. After outworking Muniz for most of the first round, the two would trade towards the end. While Muniz landed some solid shots, Allen came out looking strong out the gate, though neither fighter utilized their vaunted takedown game at that point.
In the second, Allen continued to work with a steady volume of strikes. Muniz had no answer to Allen’s striking and the fight looked like it was starting to slip away from him. A Muniz takedown was reversed by Allen, who got Muniz on his back and dropped strikes on him to end the second round.
The big moment came in the third round when Allen caught an errant kick and slammed Muniz to the ground. After locking in a rear-naked choke, Allen looked to have the victory sealed. Muniz fought his way out, but a successful second attempt drew the submission at 4 minutes, 25 seconds of the third and final round.
Allen wins his fourth in a row
The win moves Allen to 21-5 and has won four straight since a 2021 loss to Chris Curtis. Muniz drops to 23-5 after suffering the first submission loss of his career.
Allen’s performance should re-establish himself as an emerging contender. His only setbacks recently have came against Curtis and Sean Strickland, who are both ranked in the top 15 of the division.
With the dominant nature of his win against Muniz, who was destined for a big fight along the way, Allen hopes to get the rub as a result. If Darren Till wants to try and preserve his weak position at the bottom of the offical divisional rankings, then Allen could be an opponent for a future date.
Elsewhere on the card, Augusto Sakai got back in the win column with a decision victory over Don’Tale Mayes. Tatiana Suarez submitted Montana De La Rosa with a guillotine choke in round 2. Mike Malott submitted Yohan Lainesse with an arm triangle choke in the first round to kick off the Vegas show.
