Arnold Allen hopeful UFC Fight Night 69 win will lead to 'respect I deserve'

BERLIN – Arnold Allen may be young, but don’t let that fool you into thinking the 21-year-old Brit isn’t experienced enough to succeed in the octagon. Allen (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) made his UFC debut with an impressive guillotine choke submission of Alan Omer at UFC Fight Night 69. Making the performance even more impressive is the fact that Allen took the fight on less than one-week notice when Omer’s original opponent, Mike Wilkinson was forced off of the card due to injury.
After the fight, Allen joked with the media about how he “dominated” the very competitive fight. But was entirely serious that he thinks he deserves respect after proving himself in the octagon.
“It’s a plan, so it’s all expected to me,” Allen told MMAjunkie. “I planned this. It’s going to plan so far. If it wasn’t, I’d be dissapointed.
“I’ve got experience. Just because of my pro record – I’ve been training since I was 10 years old. So, I’ve been training for this moment for 10 years. So that experience. 10 fights, 20 fights? It doesn’t matter.”
After a few tense days of getting his medicals in order and making sure that he’d get the green light to step in on late-notice, Allen feels that he’s proven himself and he’s ready to make an impact in the featherweight division.
“I proved I deserve to be here,” Allen said. “Hopefully that puts my name up there and people start to give me the respect I deserve.” For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 69, check out the UFC Events section of the site.