After putting pen-to-paper less than four weeks ago, Brendan Allen stole the show at UFC Fight Night this weekend as Reinier de Ridder quit in his corner.
De Ridder was initially scheduled to face Anthony Hernandez in the main event; however, the latter withdrew owing to injury.
Stepping in on short notice, Allen looked impressive across the four rounds, particularly as he survived an early blitz by De Ridder. The Dutchman went for the take down early on, which was initially well defended by Allen.
However, De Ridder eventually managed to get Allen to the ground in search of a submission.
Following the second round, which saw de Ridder targeting more submissions, it was Allen’s turn to wrestle with De Ridder stuck on his back. De Ridder continued to take heavy blows by Allen in the third and was visibly exhausted in the fourth.
As De Ridder sat down in his corner at the end of the round, his coaches agreed to stop the fight, while Allen celebrated one of his most impressive wins of his career so far.
"It feels good to do exactly what I said I would do," Allen said after the fight.
"This was me 3.5 weeks off the couch. I told you I'm a different monster, when my head is clear and we're on, I'm the best in the world."
Full of confidence, Allen then called out numerous Middleweight stars, including the champion Khamzat Chimaev.
"Chimaev, if you want a good grappler, someone young and hungry, you got it baby,” Allen added.
"Dricus, where you at? I've been trying to get at you for a minute. If not, Sean [Strickland], it's time to run it back."
UFC Fight Night main card results
Main event: Brendan Allen defeats Reinier de Ridder via fourth round TKO
Co-main event: Mike Malott defeats Kevin Holland via third round decision
Aiemann Zahabi defeats Marlon Vera via third round decision
Manon Fiorot defeats Jasmin Jasudavicius via first round KO
Charles Jourdain defeats Davey Grant via first round submission
Kyle Nelson defeats Matt Frevola via third round decision