Brendan Allen did exactly what Brendan Allen does. He gave Christian Leroy Duncan the striking exchanges for four rounds, waited for the water to get deep, and then submitted him with a rear-naked choke at 2:46 of the fifth round Saturday night at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
The main event of UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Duncan, also billed as UFC Vegas 122, was a patience exercise that ended the only way it could. Allen is now 28-7. He has won four straight in the UFC. Duncan, the No. 10 ranked middleweight, fell to 8-3 in the Octagon and lost for the first time since July 2024, snapping a five-fight run.
Allen Keeps Winning and Keeps Waiting
Allen walked in ranked fourth at middleweight. He walks out ranked fourth at middleweight, and that is the story of his career compressed into one night. Duncan was not a tune-up. He had beaten Roman Dolidze and Jared Cannonier in his previous two appearances and came in as a near pick-em at the sportsbooks.
So Allen used his post-fight interview the way anyone in his position would. “Where’s [Dricus du Plessis]? He’s been running for a little while,” he said, before adding, “I’m steady, defending my spot, doing what I need to do.” Allen believes Du Plessis has avoided him. Du Plessis, ranked second, is pointed at other business.
Read the top of the division and you see Allen’s problem clearly. Sean Strickland holds the belt. Khamzat Chimaev is No. 1. Du Plessis is No. 2 and Nassourdine Imavov is No. 3. Every one of those names has a louder claim to a title shot than a man who simply keeps finishing people in championship rounds without ever losing to the people ahead of him on the list.
Here is the case for Allen anyway. Fifth-round submissions are the hardest wins in the sport to fake. You cannot game-plan your way into one, you cannot win it on a card, and you cannot get there without a gas tank that holds up under twenty-five minutes of resistance. Allen has now built a four-fight streak on that specific skill, and the UFC should stop pretending it is a novelty act.
Duncan Found His Ceiling, Not His End
Duncan’s rise was built on long, clean, accurate striking, and for four rounds that style mostly worked. Round five was a different sport. Once Allen got to his back, the fight was over, and Duncan has now had the hole in his game located for him in public.
He was brief about it afterward. “Nothing changes. The fire is too bright to dampen. The pursuit continues. Back to work,” he wrote on Instagram. At 10th in a division this crowded he has time to fix the grappling, and he is young enough that one loss to a top-five submission specialist costs him almost nothing in the long run.
The Card Over-Delivered
Andre Fili head-kicked Kai Kamaka III unconscious 22 seconds into round two. Otari Tanzilovi stopped Malcolm Wellmaker with a head kick at 2:39 of the second. Jai Herbert edged Matheus Camilo 29-28 across all three cards in the co-main, and Loopy Godinez beat Ketlen Souza by the identical margin.
Two head-kick knockouts and a championship-round choke is a real night of fights. The APEX takes constant criticism for producing forgettable cards. This one produced a contender with a legitimate grievance and the finishing resume to back it up.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.