Long-time UFC featherweight contender Arnold Allen has announced that he’ll be moving up to lightweight for his next fight.
“I’m going to lightweight because I’ve put on a lot of muscle mass rebuilding my shoulder, it’ll be tough to make 145 again,” Allen told a fan on social media.
The 31-year-old Allen has been a prominent player in the UFC’s 145lb division since first joining the promotion a decade ago.
Allen managed to amass a 10-fight winning streak, beating the likes of Calvin Kattar, Dan Hooker, Sodiq Yusuff and Gilbert Melendez along the way.
However, in 2023 he finally came unstuck with a unanimous decision loss to Max Holloway that dented his title hopes, followed by another loss on the scorecards against Movsar Evolev early last year.
Allen has since got back on track with a unanimous decision victory over Giga Chikadze in the summer of 2024, but has been out of action since due to a shoulder injury.
Allen will certainly be an interesting new addition to the UFC’s lightweight roster, but at this stage there’s no word on exactly when he might be ready to return or who he will fight in his divisional debut.
