Tale of the Tape: Allen looks to play spoiler vs. de Ridder at UFC Vancouver

The UFC returns to Rogers Arena in Vancouver this weekend with a Fight Night card headlined by middleweights Reinier de Ridder and Brendan Allen.

Originally, it was supposed to be de Ridder taking on Anthony Hernandez in a meeting of two fighters riding lengthy winning streaks, but Hernandez withdrew from the event because of an injury and Allen stepped in on short notice hoping to halt de Ridder’s impressive surge up the rankings.

De Ridder has burst onto the UFC scene and boasts a 4-0 record in the organization despite debuting less than one year ago. He is a former two-division ONE Championship titleholder at 205 pounds and at heavyweight, with his only losses coming in back-to-back outings in 2022 and 2024, when he lost both his ONE titles to the much bigger Anatoly Malykhin.

De Ridder has bounced around at different weights throughout his mixed martial arts career but has never lost when competing at 185 pounds.

Meanwhile, Allen has been a stalwart in the UFC’s middleweight division for the past six years, yet has never quite broken through to the upper echelon of title contenders. Snapping de Ridder’s winning streak would do exactly that.

De Ridder enters the weekend the No. 4-ranked contender in the weight class and is perhaps one impressive stoppage win away from a title shot.

In a recent interview with Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy, de Ridder said he’s expecting “a very high-paced fight” and acknowledged Allen “is very dangerous in the first round. That’s normally his best round.”

The opponents are rather familiar with one another overall because both represent the Kill Cliff gym in South Florida, even though they don’t train together or spar.

“He comes out guns blazing, and I believe he will do the same thing this time, and I’m planning on doing the same,” de Ridder said of what he expects this weekend. “Stepping on the gas from the get-go, making him tired, breaking him, choking him out. That’s the plan.”

Nassourdine Imavov is the frontrunner to get the first shot at new middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, but if de Ridder improves to 5-0 with a standout performance and highlight-reel finish, it’s possible he could jump to the front of the line because a style matchup between Chimaev and de Ridder is more compelling, on paper, than a Chimaev-Imavov pairing.

Allen has lost decisions to both Imavov and Hernandez within the past 13 months, so he’s not in the immediate title picture, however, he returned to the win column with a Fight of the Night victory over Marvin Vettori in their UFC 318 grudge match in July.

The 29-year-old from Louisiana is the No. 9-ranked contender in the weight class with a 13-4 UFC record and the tools to give anyone in the division a tough day at the office.

According to the betting odds, this fight is not expected to go the distance, which makes sense, even though de Ridder went five rounds in his most recent bout, plus the fact the underdog Allen has gone the distance in his past four fights.

Through four UFC appearances, de Ridder’s average fight time is 11:47, and that includes his 25-minute fight with former champion Robert Whittaker three months ago. Before that, he submitted Gerald Meerschaert in the third round in his first UFC appearance roughly 11 months ago, needed only one round to do the same to Kevin Holland in his second bout and became the first fighter to defeat Bo Nickal when he earned a second-round technical knockout in May.

Although the 35-year-old from the Netherlands is known more for his dangerous submission skills, he has been giving his recent opponents problems in the striking department.

One technique de Ridder has used effectively in his past two wins is a step-in knee to the body from his southpaw stance. It’s what ultimately felled Nickal and it was a turning point in his win over Whittaker, a victory that proved he could hang with top tier talents in the UFC.

Allen is tied for the second-most stoppage wins among active UFC middleweights, with seven, and has the second-most submission wins in the division, with six. His average fight time is 10:38, with 19 of his 25 professional wins being via stoppage.

De Ridder will have a two-inch height and three-inch reach advantage standing across from Allen, who fights out of an orthodox stance.

Allen landed 111 significant strikes in 15 minutes against Vettori. The American lands more significant strikes per minute (3.85) than de Ridder does (2.95) but also absorbs more damage — 3.96 significant strikes per minute compared to just 2.44 for de Ridder.

If the fight makes it to the ground, fans could see some high-level scrambles with both fighters looking to secure back control. Allen is a rear-naked choke specialist and de Ridder’s long limbs can help him secure a variety of submissions, often from unconventional angles.

Saturday’s bout is de Ridder’s second UFC main event in a row and the fourth time Allen has headlined a Fight Night card. It’s the ninth middleweight main event of 2025.

The Oct. 18 Fight Night card features 12 other matchups, including seven Canadian fighters competing on the card.

Below is the projected bout order for UFC Vancouver (subject to change):

MAIN CARD

-- Reinier de Ridder vs. Brendan Allen

-- Kevin Holland vs. Mike Malott

-- Marlon Vera vs. Aiemann Zahabi

-- Manon Fiorot vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius

-- Cody Gibson vs. Aori Qileng

-- Kyle Nelson vs. Matt Frevola

PRELIMINARY CARD

-- Charles Jourdain vs. Davey Grant

-- Bruno Silva vs. Park Hyun-sung

-- Danny Barlow vs. Djorden Santos

-- Kyle Prepolec vs. Drew Dober

-- Stephanie Luciano vs. Ravena Oliveira    

-- Azamat Bekoev vs. Yousri Belgaroui

-- Melissa Croden vs. Tainara Lisboa