Brendan Allen is ready to settle an old score, and he's not holding back. The middleweight contender has fired back at Sean Strickland after the former champion launched a surprising and personal attack on Allen, calling him a "woman" and dismissing his training value. The tension comes as Strickland prepares for his UFC 328 title shot against Khamzat Chimaev on May 9—and Allen, who's currently training with Chimaev, isn't about to let the insults slide.

Strickland's rant didn't stop there. He also claimed that his training partner, Johnny Eblen, could "f*ck" Allen if he wanted to—though Eblen himself has made it clear he has no such plans. For Allen, the whole situation feels out of left field. "I don’t even know where that came from," Allen told Submission Radio. "He’s always talking about dudes getting f*cked and stuff, it’s weird."

But Allen isn't just defending himself—he's taking aim right back. He dismissed Eblen, a top-ranked fighter outside the UFC, as a "B-league" talent. Allen pointed out that his own Kill Cliff FC teammate, Impa Kasanganay, was "robbed" of a win against Eblen in 2024, and that another training partner, Costello van Steenis, dethroned Eblen from the PFL middleweight title last year. "His boy can’t even make it in the B-leagues," Allen said. "Stay there, bro. I don’t care how many people say you’re good—when it shows up to fight, he got gifted a win against my boy Impa, he got beat against my boy Costello."

At the heart of it all is a rematch Allen desperately wants. He suffered a TKO loss to Strickland in 2020, when he was just 24 years old. Now 30, riding wins over Marvin Vettori and Reinier de Ridder, Allen believes the outcome would be different. "Everyone talks about TKOing me six years ago. I was 24, I’m 30 now. Let’s see how it fares now. I think he got lucky that night, I made a stupid error."

For now, Allen (26-7) is focused on his next fight: a clash with Edmen Shahbazyan at UFC Vegas 117 on June 6. Shahbazyan (16-5) enters the bout on a three-fight winning streak, so Allen can't afford to look past him. But you can bet the Strickland rematch is still on his mind—and in the world of MMA, grudges like this don't fade. They just get more intense.