‘If you’re a man, stand behind what you say’: Allen, Vettori feud

LAS VEGAS – Brendan Allen says he’s over Marvin Vettori, at least when it comes to rankings. As for the bad blood, that seems to have hit an all time high.

Immediately after his UFC Fight Night 240 win Saturday, Allen (24-5 MMA, 12-2 UFC) was criticized by his originally scheduled opponent, Vettori (19-6-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC), who withdrew due to injury weeks prior to the bout.

“Allen wtf u calling for the title man you look like dog sh*t got rocked every single round and prayed you were getting the takedown just to hang in there,” Vettori wrote on X. “That sh*t was embarrassing.”

Allen fought and defeated replacement Chris Curtis (31-11 MMA, 5-3 UFC) by split decision. When he spoke to reporters, including MMA Junkie, following the bout, Allen remained firm that the win should propel him over Vettori in the rankings anyway.

“He’s irrelevant,” Allen said. “He can’t even make it to a fight. He don’t want to fight. He can go on and sit. He’s old news. We’re going up. Pillow Fist, he could’ve got the business tonight. He could’ve got it this week. He could’ve got it in Miami. What? You want to talk now. The only time the dude wants to talk is when there’s people in between us. It’s that simple. We were prepping for him. We came and we got an even better, more technical guy that’s better than him at what he does and puts people away. Who’s he put away? Get the f*ck out of here. We ain’t worried about f*cking Marvin.

“… I should be No. 5 next week. You can’t stay in your position with f*cking not fighting. He hadn’t fought in what? The guy above me hadn’t fought in almost what a year-and-a-half? Whatever. He was supposed to fight tonight.”

But Allen wasn’t done there. Allen revealed recent in-person interactions the two fighters had, though it’s unclear exactly when or where the encounters occurred. Allen claims Vettori wasn’t of the same demeanor as he was online.

“You said explicitly, explicitly on media, that when you saw me, you were going to beat my ass,” Allen said. “You saw me and the only thing you said was, “What’s up, man? What’s up, man?’ I ain’t say a word to you. Nothing. I see you again, ‘Oh, why you looking at me like that?’ I put my bag down to walk toward you and stepped behind someone. The only time he wants to do something is when it’s in front of people. So I don’t give a f*ck. If you see me, stand behind what you say. If you’re a man, stand behind what you say. That’s my problem. I never said anything about him. What? He said I said something on Twitter? Come on, bro. Everybody is talking on Twitter. Apparently, he’s talking on Twitter right now. It’s Twitter. Whatever. If you feel that way, keep that same energy when you see me in person. You’ve seen me multiple times.

“It is what it is. I’m really about whatever. I don’t care. I ain’t going to start nothing but I ain’t no b*tch and I ain’t going to run away from it. At the end of the day, that’s the only thing left I have to say to Marvin. We’re not going to fight unless you want to fight me here, at my gym, whatever. You’re behind me. You had your chance twice. You could’ve fought me last year. You could’ve fought me tonight. I prepared. I showed up. I saved the card with Chris. That’s the last thing I’ll say regarding Marvin.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie