Brendan Allen suggests he faces Sean Strickland in UFC headliner after losing out on opponent

Brendan Allen wants to run things back with Sean Strickland after he lost out on his next opponent.

Allen (21-5 MMA, 9-2 UFC) was booked to face Jack Hermansson in a UFC Fight Night headliner on June 3, but Hermansson withdrew due to an undisclosed injury.

Strickland (26-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) is currently booked to face Abus Magomedov in the July 1 headliner – a matchup that turned many heads including rising middleweight Caio Borralho. So with Allen looking for a fight, he suggests Strickland fight him instead of Magomedov, who’s only 1-0 in the UFC.

“So @SStricklandMMA what do u say my man. It sets us up for a perfect rematch, better build up and definitely a way better main for the fans. We can do it on your date of July 1 if you prefer, fans definitely wanna see us fight over UFC 1-0 guy.  @Mickmaynard2 @AliAbdelaziz00.”

So @SStricklandMMA what do u say my man. It sets us up for a perfect rematch, better build up and definitely a way better main for the fans. We can do it on your date of july 1 if you prefer, fans definitely wana see us fight over UFC 1-0 guy. @Mickmaynard2 @AliAbdelaziz00 https://t.co/83p7BtnhI3

— Brendan Allen (@BrendanAllenMMA) April 27, 2023

Allen suffered a Round 2 TKO to Strickland in November 2020. Since then, the 27-year-old has won six of his past seven, and back-to-back Performance of the Night submissions of Krzysztof Jotko and Andre Muniz.

Since beating Allen, Strickland emerged as a top middleweight contender. He saw his winning streak come to an end when he dropped two straight to ex-middleweight champion Alex Pereira. and former title challenger Jared Cannonier. He then rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Nassourdine Imavov in January in what was his fourth UFC headliner.