Brendan Allen had his hands full at Meta Apex on Saturday night as he entered a five-round war with Christian Leroy Duncan. Duncan was younger and had serious momentum going into their showdown in Las Vegas, but Allen was able to secure a fifth-round submission with the win. (see highlights here).
The win is all the more impressive now that his teammate and former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad has revealed that Allen is suffering from a serious staph infection.
“What people don’t know is that Brendan has been dealing with a staph infection since Tuesday of fight week,” Muhammad wrote. “I had to get antibiotics, 5 more days left and despite all that adversity I went out and got the finish.”
“Never complained, never made excuses, just found a way to win,” Belal concluded. “That’s the heart of a champion. I’m proud of my brother.”
A video posted by Muhammad showed Allen, stiff-legged and walking gingerly, alongside a picture of the UFC middleweight in an emergency check-up at the hospital. In the comments below his original post, Muhammad describes staph as “a hole in the back” and additional NSFW images prove that it was indeed a gross case of staph.
Staph infections suck the life and energy out of you, and the antibiotics they put you on to clear the staph are even worse. So it’s particularly impressive that Brendan Allen was able to keep pace with Christian Leroy Duncan for 22 minutes and 46 seconds, to the point where he sank naked into the rear choke and knocked his opponent out.
