UFC Fight Night: Arnold Allen vs Melquizael Costa Preview & Prediction
The main event sees two ranked featherweights go at it with potential title contention on the line, Arnold Allen looks to halt his slide against the dynamic Melquizael Costa.
Arnold Allen vs Melquizael Costa facts
What time are Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa expected to walk out?
Where is UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa? Meta Apex, Enterprise, USA
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Nigh 276
What TV channel is UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – Paramount
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa? UK – TNT Sports can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and HBO Max / USA – Paramount+ & UFC Fight Pass
UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa main card
Arnold Allen vs Melquizael Costa (Featherweight)
Choi Doo Ho vs Daniel Santos (Featherweight)
Malcolm Wellmaker vs Juan Diaz (Bantamweight)
Modestas Bukauskas vs Rodolfo Bellato (Light Heavyweight)
Timothy Cuamba vs Bernardo Sopaj (Bantamweight)
UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa prelims
Tuco Tokkos vs Ivan Erslan (Light Heavyweight)
Trey Ogden vs Thomas Gantt (Lightweight)
Ketlen Vieira vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti (Women’s Bantamweight)
Cody Brundage vs Andre Petroski (Middleweight)
Alice Ardelean vs Polyana Viana (Women’s Strawweight)
Daniel Barez vs Luis Gurule (Flyweight)
Shauna Bannon vs Nicolle Caliari (Women’s Strawweight)
Khaos Williams vs Nikolay Veretennikov (Welterweight)
Arnold Allen: Can “Almighty” turn back the clock and force his way back into the title picture?
Arnold Allen (20-4) finds himself at a career crossroad heading into his third UFC main event. The #7 ranked Englishman started his UFC career with a perfect 10-0 record before dropping decisions to Max Holloway, Movsar Evloev, and most recently Jean Silva, with the only win in that stretch coming against Giga Chikadze at UFC 304. Allen is a technically sound striker with noticeably fast 1-2 combinations and kicks, and excellent movement around the cage. Notably, he hasn’t been finished in all 24 professional fights. Unfortunately for Allen, his best UFC wins haven’t aged particularly well, with Sodiq Yusuff and Chikadze both falling on hard times since facing him.
Melquizael Costa: “Milky Costa” looks to use his first main event slot to gatecrash the title picture
Melquizael Costa (26-7) is on an absolute tear right now, riding a six-fight win streak that includes a spinning back kick TKO over Dan Ige in February – the first finish loss of Ige’s career. The #12 ranked Brazilian Milky Costa has shown every facet of MMA across his latest win streak, two wins of each method – decision, submission, and TKO. His only UFC losses have been to Thiago Moises and Steve Garcia, who’s gone on a tear of his own. Costa is a southpaw with a dynamic and flashy striking arsenal, lightning-fast kicks, and an underrated submission game. His weakness shown has been his later round cardio, slowing down and becoming increasingly hittable when his pace drops.
Arnold Allen vs Melquizael Costa prediction
This is a really compelling matchup with major divisional implications. Both fighters operate mainly in southpaw, but the offensive arsenals are different. Costa brings the more flashy and varied weaponry – elusive combinations with regular knee stomps. Allen brings the better fundamentals, sharper but short combinations, and a level of high-end experience that Costa hasn’t been exposed to yet.
The path for Allen is to use his movement around the cage to avoid being a stationary target for Costa’s strikes, find his fast boxing combinations in the pocket, and threaten his rapid headkicks to keep Costa guessing. Almighty has shown his durability against the very best in the division, and Costa doesn’t carry the same power that Jean Silva brought to the cage in January.
Costa will need to keep his pace high across all five rounds, something he’s never done yet, nor had the chance to prove he can do. He started really dominant against Erosa before slowing in the final round, and the same happened against Christian Rodriguez. If he fades in this one, Allen has the ability to outpoint him down the stretch. Allen is the rightful favourite here based on the level of opposition he’s fought, but the betting value definitely sits on Costa given his recent form. I see Allen navigating this one to a hard fought decision, with the chance of a championship round finish.
Prediction: Arnold Allen to win
