Brendan Allen is putting his ranking on the line against an unranked opponent.
MMA Fighting confirmed with multiple sources that a middleweight matchup between Brendan Allen and Edmen Shahbazyan is in the works for UFC Vegas 118 on June 8 at the Meta APEX. The bout was first reported by Marcel Dorff.
This is a bit of a step back fight for Allen (26-7), who is currently ranked No. 6 in the UFC’s middleweight rankings, and coming off the biggest win of his career, a stoppage over Reinier de Ridder in October, after stepping in on short notice to replace Anthony Hernandez at UFC Vancouver. Allen entered the UFC in 2019 and sports a 14-4 record inside the octagon.
Currently unranked, Shahbazyan (16-5) joined the UFC in 2018 with a good amount of hype, but after a fast start to his UFC career, he began to struggle, at one point losing five of seven bouts. He rebounded in 2025, though, stringing together three consecutive wins, most recently finishing Andre Muniz at UFC 320 in October. His overall UFC record stands at 9-5.
UFC Vegas 118 is headlined by a welterweight matchup between former champion Belal Muhammad and rising contender Gabriel Bonfim.
Mike Heck and Damon Martin contributed to this report.
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