No love.
Top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight contender Brendan Allen makes his first appearance of the year when he takes on unranked knockout artist Edmen Shahbazyan in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 118 this weekend (Sat., June 6, 2026) inside the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Allen being matched up with Shahbazyan came completely out of left field.
After all, “All In” is coming off a huge win over Reinier de Ridder, making the former two-division ONE champion quit on the stool, which pushed Allen to No. 5 in the Middleweight rankings. Shahbazyan, meanwhile, spent last year rebuilding himself and is currently unranked.
So, the optics of the matchmaking weren’t great.
Top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight contender Brendan Allen makes his first appearance of the year when he takes on unranked knockout artist Edmen Shahbazyan in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 118 this weekend (Sat., June 6, 2026) inside the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Allen being matched up with Shahbazyan came completely out of left field.
After all, “All In” is coming off a huge win over Reinier de Ridder, making the former two-division ONE champion quit on the stool, which pushed Allen to No. 5 in the Middleweight rankings. Shahbazyan, meanwhile, spent last year rebuilding himself and is currently unranked.
So, the optics of the matchmaking weren’t great.
18 hours ago
