Brendan Allen looked disorganized in his UFC Fight Night Paris clash against Nassourdine Imavov minutes ago. ‘All In’ failed to land a takedown and was worked over by the #4 ranked middleweight on the ground for the last two of their three-round co-main event clash.

Predictably, the American lost a unanimous decision to the French-Russian fighter in their virtual title eliminator. And middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis is loving every moment of it, relishing in Allen’s loss. The South African took to Twitter (now X) to rub ‘All In’s sloppy performance in his face. “Tough luck @BrendanAllenMMA JK you suck loser 🤣,” ‘DDP’ tweeted.

But why is Du Plessis being so mean to Allen? Well, Allen has been trash-talking the South African champ over the past year, claiming Du Plessis had been lucky in many of his wins and that the champ “can’t hang with me.” 

“Up until that point [Du Plessis’ Robert Whittaker UFC 290 clash], we can definitely, easily, 1,000 percent fact say that he had the easy road, and he was losing every single one of those fights until he came back and got the finish. Some of those were lucky,” Allen said in an interview early this year.

This is why Du Plessis is naturally glad to see the #8 ranked Allen be dealt with by the #4 fighter of the division where he is champion. They say you shouldn’t hit a man when he’s down, but ‘DDP’ clearly doesn’t believe in that, choosing the worst possible time to gloat over Allen’s fall from grace. This is not at all uncharacteristic of Du Plessis who made both Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland cry during the respective press conferences before their fights.

But while Allen will have to pick up the pieces and make his way up the ladder again, Imavov has his eyes on the middleweight crown.

Not Dricus Du Plessis but Israel Adesanya may be next for Imavov after UFC Paris win

Nassourdine Imavov has firmly established himself in the title picture after defeating Allen. Unsurprisingly, the French-Russian fighter has called for a title shot next in his octagon interview. However, since the middleweight division has a surfeit of title contenders at the moment (Sean Strickland and the winner of the Whittaker-Chimaev UFC 308 clash), that seems unlikely.

However, there is perhaps a potential blockbuster fight for Imavov up next given the situation in the 185-pound division. Israel Adesanya is in no man’s land since losing to ‘DDP’ in their UFC 305 clash last month. With none of the top contenders available for a bounce-back fight, and Adesanya having dealt with much of the top 10 already, there is not anyone who jumps out off the page as ‘Izzy’s next opponent.

But Imavov’s victory may just have changed that. Now there is the #4 ranked fighter, and a #4 ranked fighter who is clearly one or at the most two steps from a title shot on offer for ‘Izzy’. This is why no one should be surprised if the UFC announces Imavov as Israel Adesanya’s next opponent sometime in early 2025. The only thing that could derail this scheme is if the UFC opts to pit Caio Borralho against the former champion instead. The Brazilian has already called for a shot against ‘Stylebender’ to earn a title shot. So Adesanya is essentially becoming the gatekeeper of a division he has been ruling for the last few years.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Let us know in the comments section below.