‘I Just Felt Like I Deserved To Win’

“Almighty” is super bummed about his UFC 297 loss.

Arnold Allen is coming off a back-and-forth fight with Movsar Evloev at UFC 297 in Toronto, Canada (Sat., Jan. 20, 2024), in which lost a very close unanimous decision that had a bit of controversy.

For the most part, Allen has been quiet about the loss, only posting on social media to thank everyone for the support he received. A week after the fight, he took to his YouTube channel to break his silence about the fight.

“Everyone’s saying that I won round one and round three. I agree,” Allen said. “That’s what I felt, too. I felt after round one, I was like, ‘Yup, won that one.’ Round two, I f—ked that one up. And round three, that was mine. Very, very, very, very, very frustrating. Not the way I wanted to start things off [in 2024]…I just felt like I deserved to win that. I don’t want to be b-tching and moaning or anything like that. I have no ill will against his team or the opponent. I watched it back a few times. I wanted to watch it back before I gave a video saying how I felt…Yeah, I felt like I got one and three just on the base that everyone else said it, and that’s what I felt immediately after.”

During the third round, Allen had Evloev in a front headlock and hit him with four knees which were deemed illegal by referee Marc Goddard. The call caused controversy because many fans and fighters thought the knees were legal because they weren’t weight-barring and Allen was lifting Evloev off the ground while landing the knees. The call also halted a very pivotal sequence for Allen.

“Almighty” believes the knees were legal.

“With about three minutes left in the round, I fired off some knees, and in the moment I believe they were legal. I asked the rules backstage, and there was nothing to clarify,” Allen said. Mark Goddard is getting a lot of flack for his call, but when he came in and said he was reffing, me, my coach, and my manager we were very happy. And I still think he’s one of the best refs out there. I believe he made a mistake, and you know, it’s a tough one.”

“I do feel I was on to a sequence where I was about to set up a finish. My opponent was really hurt. The way he sat down, the way he was reacting from the knees. His hand was off even with the rule. Every knee that landed his hand was in the air. I lifted him up- knee, I lifted him up- knee, I lifted him up- knee. Even with that hand down, hand up rule, they were all legal. Then also its palm on the ground, a weight-bearing palm, not fingertips. So at the minimum, it was fingertips when I lifted him up, and it wasn’t weight-bearing. It was just poking the floor open the floor. Yeah, I do believe I would have set up a finish from there.”

Allen is on the first two-fight losing streak of his career after starting 10-0 in the UFC and is looking to get back to action as soon as possible.

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