UFC: Dan Hooker falls to first-round TKO in wild fight against Arnold Allen at UFC London

Arnold Allen strikes Dan Hooker in the Featherweight bout at The O2, London. Photo / Getty

British UFC fighter Arnold Allen has catapulted himself into the spotlight at the expense of New Zealand's Dan Hooker.

Ahead of their bout at this weekend's UFC Fight Night at the sold-out O2 Arena in London, both fighters had plenty to gain. For Allen, unbeaten in eight UFC appearances, he needed a big name on his record to challenge the top of the featherweight division. For Hooker, dropping back down to the 65.7kg division, he needed to steal someone's momentum.

It was the Englishman who left with the spoils - needing less than a round to get his Kiwi counterpart out of there.

After the proverbial firefight which saw both athletes land good, heavy shots, Allen's plan of relentless pressure got the job done, forcing Hooker against the cage and hammering away to force the referee to step in.

Arnold Allen strikes Dan Hooker in the Featherweight bout at The O2, London. Photo / Getty

Returning to the featherweight (65.7kg) division after spending the last five years fighting at lightweight (70.3kg), Hooker came into the fight with a healthy reach advantage and looked to put that to use.

Allen answered early by landing some strong low kicks, but as Hooker looked to back Allen up, the Englishman landed a 1-2 combination down the pipe and gave the Kiwi no time to defend.

Allen swarmed Hooker with punches and landed most of them. While Hooker tried to stay composed and land shots of his own, Allen turned up the pressure - walking into a heavy shot from Hooker and dropping to a knee.

While Hooker had a momentary respite, Allen bounced right back to marching Hooker down.

The referee gave Hooker every opportunity to defend himself and stay in the fight - which the Kiwi was able to do.

In the temporary respite, commentator John Gooden summed it up nicely saying: "these boys woke up and chose violence."

The two returned to range, and Hooker looked to set up knee strikes while working his jab. But Allen was putting everything into his punches and that was evident when he landed.

A counter left hand found the mark and sent Hooker stumbling backwards. Allen saw his opportunity and again swarmed - forcing Hooker back up against the cage once more and swinging away.

After initially trying to send back a few shots of his own, Hooker was forced to cover up in defence and the referee stepped in.

While the win puts a big name on Allen's record, it leaves Hooker at a crossroads. The pandemic era has not been kind to Hooker, who is now 1-4 since June 2020.

His losses have all come against fighters ranked inside the top 10 of their divisions, but if he is to remain at featherweight he might have to build his way up to another top-10 opponent after Allen needed less than a round to get the win.

He is still ranked No 8 in the lightweight division, so it remains to be seen which division he will choose to continue in.