The nicknames of the fighters in the main event of UFC Vegas 90 Saturday at Apex in Las Vegas between Brendan "All In" Allen and Chris "Action Man" Curtis are particularly appropriate given the type of battle they waged.
A fighter needed to be all in both mentally and physically to survive that scrap. And it was full of action, man, from the sizzling start to the furious finish that Allen won by the narrowest of margins. Allen won the final round on all three scorecards that helped him take the fight.
Mike Bell had it 48-47 for Curtis, but Derek Cleary had it 48-47 and Eric Colon had it 49-46 for Allen, giving him the split decision victory and his seventh win in a row. He was knocked out by Curtis in 2021 as a late replacement and got his revenge on Saturday. He's now won nine of his last 10.
It was a back and forth battle Saturday, with Curtis' power rattling Allen and Allen's toughness and submissions creating issues for Allen. Both men were on top of their games and fought valiantly and to their best. Curtis injured his right leg late in the fight and that last little spurt it allowed Allen might have been the difference.
Curtis rocked Allen several times, and it brought back memories of their 2021 bout that Curtis won. Allen admitted it was an issue for him.
"I know what I had to go through to get here, in terms of the mental aspect," Allen said. "I had to overcome that thought -- I know he caught me -- but he still beat me. [I thought], 'What happens if he beats me again? Does this guy have my number?' "
And Curtis caught and rocked Allen several times on Saturday, leaving him briefly on ice skates for a moment. The beauty of the fight was, whenever one of them seemed to be gaining a distinct advantage, the other refused to concede and fought his way into it.
They fought a week before the heavily hyped UFC 300, which will be held a couple of miles down the road at T-Mobile Arena. If that card turns out to be filled with fights that were as good as Allen-Curtis II, it's going to be cause for a mega-celebration.
Allen called out middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, though it appears Du Plessis is being maneuvered toward a match with former champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.
"I do think I'm one of the best in the world," Allen said. "I think I'm the best in the world at 185."
