‘Not your friend’… Brendan Allen brutally honest on Reinier de Ridder ahead of UFC Vancouver fight

Brendan Allen never wanted to be Reinier de Ridder’s friend

Allen is surrounded by top talent at Kill Cliff FC, which has seen the likes of the late, great Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, Robbie Lawler, Kamaru Usman, Aung La N Sang and more walk through its doors.

During fight week, Allen confirmed to MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin that he never trained with de Ridder at the gym.

“I have enough friends in this division,” Allen said ahead of his fight with de Ridder.

“I have guys that I won’t fight unless they say my name. If they say my name, then we’re gonna get it, and they all know that from the very beginning.

“For gold, I’ll fight anyone in the world.

“So with that being said, yeah, I’m not your friend. Don’t wanna be your friend,” Allen added.

“I’m not gonna disrespect you. If you disrespect me, then we’ll have that problem. I’m not gonna help you. I don’t want your help for me. It’s kinda the way I looked at it,” Allen said of his relationship with de Ridder.

“I know eventually we’re gonna fight because I had been asking him for him since he [came] to the UFC, before he was even training there.

“And then to be honest, like, I got asked for every, like, middleweight they wanted to come to our gym. I was asked, hey, you cool with it? [Nassourdine] Imavov came to the gym and asked me before we were supposed to even fight. I was like, yeah. For sure. It’d be cool. Have a new look. Then we fight…”

Allen said de Ridder never approached him about training at his gym or fighting after they became teammates.

“Never was asked, nothing for him. Never,” Allen said of de Ridder.

“So I was like, alright. Well, f— me? Well, f— you too. How about that?

“So, not towards him, but towards whoever made that call. It is what it is,” said Allen.

Brendan Allen could near title shot with win at UFC Vancouver

Earlier this year, Brendan Allen suffered back-to-back losses with a decision defeat to Anthony Hernandez.

Before that, Allen had his 7-fight win streak snapped by Nassourdine Imavov.

Now, Allen has the opportunity to crack the top 5 with a win over de Ridder, who is undefeated in the UFC.

There’s no fighter more deserving of a title shot at middleweight than Nassourdine Imavov right now, however, with the right performance on Saturday night, Allen might not be too far out from a title fight with Khamzat Chimaev.