Allen dismisses Pinas callout ahead of UFC Vegas 122: 'You've got to earn it'

Brendan Allen has little time for Damian Pinas’ post-fight callout, telling the rising middleweight that a 3-0 UFC record does not yet warrant a shot at one of the division’s top contenders.

Allen is set to headline UFC Vegas 122 against Christian Leroy Duncan this Saturday at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. The matchup was confirmed before Pinas made his move, calling Allen out following a quick knockout win over Andrey Pulyaev at UFC 332.

“We knew it was going to come one day as long as I kept doing my thing,” Allen told MMA Fighting. “I mean, hey, hats off to them, but also you have to think of the position that they’re in. It’s a win-win for them. They fight, they get experience to fight someone like me. I’m the guy that’s been fighting down. Nobody else is fighting down like me. No one else is top 5 in the world fighting out of the rankings.”

Allen enters Saturday’s main event on a three-fight win streak and firmly in the middleweight championship picture. Pinas, by contrast, is three fights into his UFC tenure, with victories over Cesar Almeida and Wes Schultz to his name.

The callout is not an isolated incident. Allen has become a recurring target for the next generation of middleweights looking to make a name for themselves, a dynamic he understands even if he finds the logic flawed.

“Multiple guys say like, ‘Oh, he gets mad,’ — how can you tell if someone gets mad on Instagram?” Allen said. “I’m calling you bro, you can’t get me mad. Like I said, hats off to those guys, but they’re three fights in. I remember when I was three fights in. I tried to keep it in perspective of what I could realistically get.”

Allen was pointed in his assessment of the level of opposition Pinas has faced so far, suggesting the prospect’s résumé does not yet justify the ambition of the callout.

“He’s just a young guy, man. He’s still got a lot to prove. He fought bottom of the barrel guys and thinks he can just shoot for the stars because he gets a couple of wins against the low-level guys. But it is what it is — that’s just part of the game.”

Allen also acknowledged that he has never relied on fan popularity or star power to build his career, framing his path as one built entirely on results. He suggested that some prospects benefit from external attention — including from broadcasters — in ways he never did, though he stopped short of elaborating fully on that point.

For now, his focus remains on Duncan and the UFC Vegas 122 main event, with the middleweight title picture the only conversation he considers worth having.