5 biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Jack Hermansson vs. Sean Strickland

#4. Brendan Allen – defeated Sam Alvey in a UFC light heavyweight bout

Brendan Allen picked up a solid late-notice win over Sam Alvey

In a bit of a rarity for a UFC show, only one fighter took a bout on late notice last night. That was Brendan Allen, who stepped in to replace the injured Phil Hawes during fight week, moving up to 205lbs in the process for a bout with Sam Alvey.

Sure, Alvey hadn’t won a fight in the octagon since 2018, and was on a winless run of seven bouts, but this was still a hugely risky move for Allen to make.

‘All In’ had lost his last bout pretty badly, suffering a TKO loss at the hands of Chris Curtis. Despite a strong overall record of 5-2 in the octagon, a defeat to Alvey could well have been enough to see him released from his contract.

However, Allen’s risk ended up paying off. After being stunned by Alvey’s trademark counter right hook in the first round, ‘All In’ took over the clash, dropped ‘Smilin Sam’ in the second round and then applied a tight choke variant to force him to tap out.

Based on his physical shape last night, there’s no way Allen will remain at 205lbs going forward. However, the victory at least moves him back onto a winning path, something he desperately needed following that loss to Curtis. ‘All In’ is now a hot prospect again, making him one of last night’s biggest winners.

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#3. Shavkat Rakhmonov – defeated Carlston Harris in a UFC welterweight bout

Shavkat Rakhmonov extended his unbeaten record with an impressive win over Carlston Harris

While last night’s victory over Carlston Harris won’t be enough to move him into welterweight title contention, it’s hard not to view Shavkat Rakhmonov as one of the hottest prospects in the UFC right now.

‘Nomad’ destroyed the highly-touted Harris in the first round, stopping him with a spinning hook kick to the head and a series of follow-up punches. The win took him to 3-0 in the octagon and 15-0 in his MMA career overall.

More incredibly, though, the native of Kazakhstan has never seen the final buzzer in any of his fights. He has finished all 15 of his opponents via knockout or submission.

There are plenty of questions around ‘Nomad’ right now, mainly based on quite how he’ll deal with some adversity in the octagon. However, the same question could easily be levelled at Khamzat Chimaev, who is arguably the prospect to watch at the minute.

So can Rakhmonov gain the same kind of traction that ‘Borz’ has? Perhaps not, as he doesn’t carry the same star aura as Chimaev. However, if he keeps finishing opponents like this, it won’t be long before the fans catch on.

Either way, a wild victory and a $50k bonus mean that he was easily one of last night’s biggest winners, and his next fight will undoubtedly garner plenty of hype.