Brendan Allen meets Edmen Shahbazyan at June's UFC Fight Night 278
Brendan Allen will get an unranked opponent at UFC Vegas 118 after beating Reinier de Ridder in his previous outing.
Middleweight contender Brendan Allen will get a surprising next opponent for his next octagon appearance. Allen (26-7 MMA, 14-4 UFC) is set to take on Edmen Shahbazyan (16-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 278 on June 6, which takes place at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas ( Paramount+ ). A person with knowledge of the matchup verified the booking to MMA Junkie following an initial report from journalist Marcel Dorff.
Allen, No. 7 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie middleweight rankings , had been angling for a grudge match with former champ Du Plessis. The 30-year-old once again called out Du Plessis following his corner stoppage TKO of Reinier de Ridder at UFC Fight Night 262 in October, but to no avail.
Instead he gets the unranked Shahbazyan, who after losing five of seven fights from August 2020 to August 2024, has turned it around with a three-fight winning streak. The 28-year-old is coming off a first-round knockout of Andre Muniz at UFC 320 in October. The latest UFC Fight Night 278 lineup includes: Belal Muhammad v.
Gabriel Bonfim Brendan Allen vs. Edmen Shahbazyan Jeisla Chaves vs. Yuneisy Duben Edgar Chairez vs.