Brendan Allen left, and Marvin Vettori in a preliminary middleweight title fight at UFC 318 in New Orleans, La., Saturday, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ella Hall)
September 15, 2025 - 3:53 PM
VANCOUVER — An injury has forced American Anthony (Fluffy) Hernandez to drop out of his middleweight main event with Reinier (The Dutch Knight) de Ridder at the UFC's Fight Night show next month in Vancouver, according to the mixed martial arts promotion.
American Brendan (All In) Allen, ranked 11th among 185-pound contenders, will replace No. 6 Hernandez in the marquee bout at the Oct. 18 Rogers Arena show.
Allen (25-7-0) is coming off a fight-of-the-night performance in a unanimous decision win over No. 14 Marvin (The Italian Dream) Vettori at UFC 318 on July 19. He had lost his two previous bouts, to Hernandez and France's Nassourdine (The Sniper) Imavov.
The 29-year-old Allen is 13-4-0 in the UFC since beating Canadian Aaron Jeffery on Dana White's Contender Series in July 2019. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has won eight of his last 10 bouts and owns the second-most submissions in UFC middleweight history.
De Ridder (25-2-0) has won all four of his UFC bouts, rising to No. 4 in the rankings after defeating Gerald (GM3) Meerschaert, Kevin (Trailblazer) Holland, Bo Nickal and, most recently, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker via split decision.
The 35-year-old Dutch fighter is a former middleweight and light-heavyweight titleholder in the One Championship promotion.
De Ridder and Allen will be looking to further climb the rankings and get a shot at middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, who dethroned South African Dricus du Plessis last month at UFC 319.
Imavov, ranked No. 2 among middleweight contenders, is also very much in the title picture after defeating No. 8 Caio Borralho of Brazil via unanimous decision at a Sept. 6 Fight Night show in Paris.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2025.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2025