Can a 29-Year-Old Fighter Throw a Wrench into De Ridder’s Plan?
Reinier De Ridder, otherwise known as “RDR,” will face “All In” Brendan Allen. As far as who will win, “RDR” faces an opponent who recently won his last fight against Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision. This fight proved that Allen could last five rounds against an opponent and demonstrated further that he landed more strikes in that time frame. However, De Ridder is a different animal who has a longer reach than Allen. Plus, for both fighters, they have different stances that may make a standing fight less advantageous, with De Ridder being a Southpaw and Allen being Orthodox. However, if De Ridder takes Allen to the ground, this is where Allen will need to shore up his defense. Out of the last five fights, two of those were won by submission from De Ridder, whereas Allen, in his last five fights, has been to the ground once, achieving a successful submission. Cory Sandhagen demonstrated an impressive ground defense in a title fight that Brendan Allen could learn from. Admittedly, staying prolonged on the ground while being smothered could be his downfall.
At this time, Renier is the current favorite to win this fight because of his mixed victories showcasing impressive ground work and striking techniques. Also, he is favored by a heavy margin to bring the fight to a KO/TKO. This is because Allen has a higher amount of significant strikes absorbed per minute and has been known to soak up punches before ultimately getting to the end of a fight. It is likely Allen could shake them off and land significant strikes on his own, which could lure De Ridder in during the latter stages of the five rounds for a knockout blow. Mostly, it will be Allen who should be the risk-taker in this fight because De Ridder can keep him at bay through his reach alone. De Ridder can capitalize too on Allen’s eagerness, who has attempted more takedowns per minute than De Ridder. Allen, though, may have learned from this as his striking looked faster at his last fight against Marvin Vettori. Marvin notably couldn’t keep up as a result of Allen’s speed as well as increased reach.
The ending of this fight will be difficult to predict, ultimately, in exactly how it will happen. In one scenario, Allen could attempt a takedown only to be kneed to a KO/TKO, or Allen could successively hold off De Ridder and land more strikes like he did in his last victory. De Ridder will be waiting for these advances and may take down Allen by the end of the second round. Both of their issues will be in how equal the standing portion is and how long their stamina is. If Allen is smart, though, he could outlast De Ridder and attempt a takedown between the third and fifth rounds instead of his usual attempts, which average once every minute. Either tune in to see the victor on October 18th at 7:00 p.m. EST.
