UFC on ESPN 12 results: Brendan Allen earns unanimous decision after brutal, bloody war with Kyle Daukaus

Brendan Allen had to engage in a brutal and bloody battle to earn his third straight win in the UFC.

The middleweight prospect had his hands full with late replacement opponent Kyle Daukaus, who showed unbelievable will and determination over all three rounds at UFC on ESPN 12, but still came up short in his bid to pull off the upset in his octagon debut.

After three hard-fought rounds, Allen got the win with the judges scoring the fight 29-28, 29-27 and 30-27 all in his favor.

“It wasn’t my best performance,” Allen said afterward. “He was tough. I’m not too happy with myself, but I’ll be back better.”

It didn’t look like the fight was going to make it out of the first minute of the opening round after Allen launched a knee right up the middle, crashing into Daukaus’ chin and sending him face first into the canvas. Allen followed up in an attempt to put him away, but miraculously Daukaus survived.

Once the fight was on the mat, Allen largely stayed in control as he first looked for submissions and then eventually started hammering away with ground and pound, including a clubbing elbow that opened a nasty cut over Daukaus’ eye.

It was more of the same in the second round after Allen connected with another elbow on the ground that snapped Daukus’ head back. Eventually, Daukaus did managed a brief reversal but he couldn’t maintain control and Allen escaped.

After Allen got back on top, he was doing his best to inflict maximum damage as he continued to blast away at Daukaus. Even at the end of the round as the fighters scrambled back to the feet, Allen stayed on the attack as he threw a right hand at the horn that dropped Daukuas again.

In between rounds, Daukaus took full advantage of the one-minute break to recover as he sought a finish of his own. Following another scramble on the ground, Daukaus managed to earn some payback for that earlier elbow strike with a shot of his own that caused some significant swelling under Allen’s eye.

Still, Allen stayed out of trouble for the most part until earning another reversal with just seconds remaining to secure his win.

While he didn’t seem all that satisfied by his victory, Allen stayed undefeated in the UFC and has his sights set on the top-15 ranked opponent who was originally scheduled to face him on Saturday night.

“Ian Heinisch for sure,” Allen said when asked what he wants next. “He can’t run from me forever.”