Arnold Allen has now amassed a 10-fight winning streak in the UFC after beating Calvin Kattar via TKO in a recent headlining fight, so understandably the No.4 ranked featherweight title was left a bit taken aback when he wasn’t included in the UFC’s new interim 145lb title fight, which went to Yair Rodriguez (No.3) and Josh Emmett (No.5) instead.
“I was a little bit surprised,” Allen admitted on ‘Abz Talks.’ “I thought I was in just with the win streak on its own. I know the last fight wasn’t ideal, but I thought when you put the nine-fight winning streak without the last one, that was more than worthy than either of what those guys have done at the minute.
“My whole career has kind of been like this. It’s a blessing in disguise and my goal is never to be interim champion. I want to be the champion, so it would have been nice to be a part of that. But yeah – always work for something better.”
So brushing aside that title snub, the 28-year-old Allen is now setting on sights on what has the potential to be an even bigger fight against former champ and current No.1 contender Max Holloway instead.
“A lot of people are saying Max is the fight to make,” Allen said. “That would be a fun one. I don’t see why not. And also, I think a win over him would be a bigger statement, and then you throw your interim in the bin, right?”
