Arnold
Allen
would like nothing more than to hasten his climb on the
crowded
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight ladder.
The once-beaten
Tristar Gym export will toe the line against
Dan Hooker in
the
UFC Fight Night 204 co-headliner on Saturday at the O2 Arena in
London. Allen enters the Octagon on the strength of an eye-popping
10-fight winning streak. He last competed at UFC on ABC 2, where he
laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over
Sodiq
Yusuff on April 10. Hooker, meanwhile, has lost three of his
past four bouts. The
City Kickboxing star last appeared on Oct. 30, when he
submitted to a first-round kimura from
Islam
Makhachev in a UFC 267 lightweight showcase.
As Allen and Hooker inch ever closer to their pivotal encounter at
145 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied
them to this point:
28: Years of age for Allen, who was born on Jan. 22, 1994 in
Ipswich, England.
5: Allen wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 29%
of his career total (17). His complete list of victims:
Paul Cook,
Tobias
Huber,
Doni Miller,
Kim
Tinghaugen and
Nathan
Greyson. Allen owns four other wins by submission and eight
more by decision.
1: Sub-minute finish on the Allen resume. He brought down the
aforementioned Huber with punches in just 37 seconds under
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship flag on April 18, 2014.
37: Rounds completed by Allen as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on nine different occasions and
carries an 8-1 record in those bouts.
2,842: Days since Allen suffered his only career setback. He
dropped a unanimous decision to
Marcin
Wrzosek at CWFC 69 on June 7, 2014.
32: Years of age for Hooker, who was born in Auckland, New Zealand,
on Feb. 13, 1990.
7: Hooker victories by submission, accounting for 33% of his career
total (21). His methods of choice: three guillotine chokes, two
rear-naked chokes, one armbar and one triangle choke. Hooker holds
10 other victories by knockout or technical knockout and four more
by decision.
155: Significant strikes landed by Hooker in a five-round unanimous
decision loss to
American Top Team ace
Dustin
Poirier in the UFC on ESPN 12 main event on June 27, 2020. It
remains a high-water mark for the Kiwi. Poirier connected with 153
such strikes in return.
6: Countries in which Hooker has fought as a mixed martial artist.
He has gone 8-2 in Australia, 7-2 in his native New Zealand, 5-3 in
the United States, 1-1 in China, 0-2 in the United Arab Emirates
and 0-1 in Japan.
.703: Cumulative winning percentage between the 11 men—Makhachev,
Poirier,
Michael
Chandler,
Edson
Barboza,
Jason
Knight,
Yair
Rodriguez,
Maximo
Blanco,
Haotian Wu,
Rob
Lisita,
Sonny Brown
and
Adam
Calver—who have defeated Hooker. They sport a combined record
of 189-77-3.