Brendan Allen’s Tattoos: Meaning Behind UFC Middleweight’s Inks

Brendan Allen wears his faith on his shoulder. Quite literally. The #6 ranked UFC middleweight, like many other UFC fighters, has tattoos on his body that hold personal significance and meaning to him, as well as his values and beliefs.

While he has a few tattoos that fans on UFC forums and discussion threads may describe as generic, like his prominent and intricate tribal tattoo, each has a unique story. Ahead of his main event rematch against Chris Curtis tonight, we take a look at the stories behind his tattoos.

What do Brendan Allen’s tattoos mean?

Brendan Allen is a devout Christian, as evidenced by the tattoo on his left shoulder, which references one specific verse from the New Testament. “James 1:2-7”, it reads, and is about the Bible verse from the Book of James which talks about the virtue of perseverance in the face of trials. It serves as a source of inspiration.

His right shoulder, on the other hand, bears the showstopper. It has a prominent tribal design that goes down his bicep all the way to his right wrist. This motif is quite common in a lot of fighters’ tattoos on account of it representing their warrior spirit, courage, and ferociousness.

Fighters like Conor McGregor, Brock Lesnar, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Roman Reigns, are some of the many combat sports athletes who have tribal motifs inked on their bodies. Even Mike Tyson’s face tattoo is inspired by the Maori tribe of New Zealand.

On the same side of his body, he has dog tags, issued to US military personnel which bear their identification, in an apparent tribute to all the veterans for their service. Towards his left torso, he has two baby footsteps, representing his children and bearing their dates of birth. All these tattoos are deeply personal to the middleweight star and he even stood up to a future UFC champion over a joke about one of his tattoos.

Dricus Du Plessis’ joke rubs ‘All In’ the wrong way

UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis trains at the same Kill Cliff FC gym as Brendan Allen. After the latter joined the gym, the newcomer took Allen and another trainee to lunch, where he made a quip about one of Allen’s tattoos that rubbed the latter the wrong way and led to friction between the two.

‘DDP’ recalled the incident on an episode of ‘Banter with the Boys’ podcast on YouTube and told hosts he had tried to break the ice with Allen with a light-hearted joke. Allen was wearing a sleeveless vest and his aforementioned gospel verse tattoo was visible.

The South African asked Allen in jest, if that was his fight record, which is recorded in the same format (wins-losses-draws). ‘All In’, however, was not amused and gave an icy response. The Louisiana native would admit in a later interview that the comment did not go down well with him “It’s like you don’t know me. So you don’t have the right to joke with me like that.” 

Which of Allen’s tattoos is your favorite? And what are your predictions for his bout against Chris Curtis? Let us know in the comments.

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