I won’t lie to you and say that the first fight between Breandan Allen and Anthony Hernandez in LFA is some kind of lost media only I have access to. This encounter is definitely talked about and not forgotten in the community, yet I still feel the need to discuss it more.
So, the year is 2018, and LFA decides to put the weight of main eventing and fighting for the Middleweight title all in the hands of two young guns not even halfway through their twenties: 22-year-old Brendan Allen and 24-year-old Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez.
Allen, who was coming into his 11th pro fight at the time, made his debut almost a year later than his 5-0 foe on the night. Not many believed in Fluffy, as Allen had more experience and activity out of the two.
After an entertaining night, with eight out of ten fights ending in finishes, the crowd is prepared for the main attraction.
Mike Kendall announces styles, statures, records and names of the main event fighters. The referee explains the rules while Allen and Hernandez have another chance to look each other in the eyes before they scrap for the title. The officials close up the cage, and the tenacity rises. The bell rings.
The night of the fight
Allen starts off well — as do many of Hernandez’s opponents — applying pressure and landing a head kick on Fluffy. Brendan takes the Mexican down but commits an error on the ground, which leads to Hernandez taking over the position. Fluffy would apply constant pressure for the rest of the round on the American, flipping him around like a pancake.
The second round opens with a clinch takedown from Anthony, but Allen is able to reverse with an omoplata sweep, after which he takes his opponent’s back. Hernandez shakes it off like Taylor and goes for the same exact takedown. Brendan looks tired after this one. Fluffy frustrates the American for the rest of the five minutes as he changes positions while going for submission attempts and ground and pounds him.
In the third, Anthony sprawls Allen’s attempt to wrestle and squashes him the exact same way he did in the previous two: ground and pound, position switch and submission attempts, specifically the seated arm triangle.
By that point, Allen is a drowning kid thrown into the pool by his parents (coaches), so he learns to swim. Not the prettiest strategy, but it works from time to time.
In the fourth, Hernandez goes for it with a flurry on the feet but ultimately takes Brendan to the ground again. Allen sweeps the Mexican and keeps the top position until the last minute of the round.
Both men look exhausted being in the fifth round for the first time in their careers. Hernandez stays active in striking, but when he takes Allen down, he runs through him like a truck. Fluffy controls and smashes Brendan with elbows to win a dominant decision on all the scorecards.
The fight week before the rematch
“I was tired as s— that fight… I didn’t know how to wrestle, my ground [sucked],” criticizes his 24-year-old self Hernandez during the media day. “Now I actually understand what the f— I’m doing,” he adds.
Both Allen and Fluffy seem to have a calm attitude with a healthy amount of confidence going into the fight. Allen is having his ‘Oliveira phase,’ as many like to call it. Brendan dyed his hair blonde, which seems to be a good tradition amongst fighters, looking at the likes of Dan Hooker, Derek Brunson and, of course, Charles Oliveira.
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