Author: The Nation

Tucked away in a back garden in Suffolk is a gym, quite unlike many others.

Much of the equipment is old, rusty, and covered in spiderwebs and bird droppings.

Some of the home-made contraptions include a worn-down hack squat machine that has been converted into a leg press and a giant tyre attached to heavy metal chains.

This weathered environment may sound unappealing and alien to some, but to Arnold Allen it represents home.

Allen, 28, used to climb on the apparatus and hang off the top of it when he was 10 years old – now he uses it to train for fights in the UFC.

The gym belongs to Allen’s father Pacer, a former British strongman, who put it together using equipment from his old gym, which got knocked down.

On Saturday, Allen faces the biggest night of his 10-fight career when he takes on American Calvin Kattar in UFC Fight Night 213’s main event in Las Vegas.

“I’ve always had this thing about being in flash posh gyms. It takes the grit away from it, and makes you put less effort in,” Allen tells BBC Sport.

“There’s something about being in the garden with a rusty gym, with broken concrete and 30-year-old equipment that just makes you train that little bit harder.

“It’s been there as long as I can remember now. When the weather is good, I train there all year but when I’m in [fight] camp and the weather is bad, I’ll go inside, just because I don’t want to get sick or anything.”

Allen, who is sixth in the UFC’s featherweight rankings, is on a nine-fight winning streak in the promotion – the second-longest in the division’s history, behind Max Holloway’s 13.

His last fight was in London in March, where he knocked out Dan Hooker in the first round.

In Kattar, who is ranked fifth, he faces the highest-ranked opponent of his career, whose past four fights have headlined fight cards.

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The 34-year-old earned an impressive win over Giga Chikadze in January, but lost a narrow decision to Josh Emmett in June.

Arnold says the bout with Kattar is an opportunity to prove he belongs in the octagon with the division’s best fighters.

“It’s huge, it’s everything I’ve been wanting and it shows where I am and I want to show that I deserve to be among those elite guys such as Calvin. It’s a litmus test,” he said.

“One of the reasons I asked for the fight is I like his fighting style. He’s tough as nails and I don’t think he’s ever been knocked out.

“I think stylistically it’s a good fight and it’s going to be a fun one.

Away from that Suffolk back garden, Allen trains at the Team Renegade gym in Birmingham, which is also home to UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards.

Edwards knocked out Kamaru Usman in the fifth round with a stunning head kick in August to become only the second British UFC champion in history.

In the past, Allen has been compared to Edwards, as both lack the bravado of some of the UFC’s more outspoken fighters. He says he’s happy with the comparisons, because of Edwards’ achievements in the sport.

Allen can see parallels between the effect Edwards’ title win has had on the Team Renegade gym with that he saw in Canada when training with Georges St-Pierre, the former welterweight champion.

“I’ve been in gyms with world champions previously, like George St Pierre, and it lifts everyone up and motivates people a bit more,” said Allen.

“So when Leon got the title fight, everything went up a little bit, and when he won, it’s going to keep going through the roof.

“People are motivated and when you see someone you know, someone you train with, do that, everyone realizes they can do it too, so it’s definitely a level up for everyone.”

BBC reports

Graham Potter endured a nightmare return to Amex Stadium as Brighton thrashed Chelsea to claim a first victory under their new manager Roberto de Zerbi.

In a chaotic opening, Leandro Trossard’s calm finish put the home side in front after Thiago Silva – who had already produced two goalline clearances to deny the Seagulls – surrendered possession cheaply in his own half.

Two own goals extended Brighton’s lead before the break, Ruben Loftus-Cheek putting through his own net from a Solly March corner before Trevoh Chalobah slid Pervis Estupinan’s low cross past Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Kai Havertz nodded in Conor Gallagher’s exquisite cross to give the visitors hope two minutes after the interval, but a second-half Chelsea recovery failed to materialise.

Pascal Gross capped a miserable afternoon for Potter and his players with a close-range finish after Edouard Mendy – who had replaced the injured Arrizabalaga at half-time – parried Julio Enciso’s shot into the German’s path..

The victory lifts De Zerbi’s side up to seventh, while Chelsea stay fifth after suffering their first defeat of Potter’s tenure.

Read Also: EPL : Man City beat Leicester, top EPL

All eyes were on Potter as he took charge of his first game at Amex Stadium since Brighton’s 5-2 victory over Leicester in early September. The 52-year-old was booed by large sections of the home fans as he took his seat in the dugout, and his mood will not have been helped by his team’s defensive horror show on the south coast.

Silva nearly gifted the home side an opener when his attempted cross-field pass was cut out by Moises Caicedo, but the veteran centre-back atoned for his error with a superb goal-line clearance after Trossard had tried to chip Blues goalkeeper Arrizabalaga.

The Brazilian repeated the feat moments later to prevent Estupinan’s powerful strike from crossing the line, but it was his poor pass that allowed Kaoru Mitoma to set up Trossard for the game’s opening goal on five minutes.

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The Seagulls’ second and third goals were also entirely self-inflicted from the visitors’ perspective. Loftus-Cheek stuck out a knee to inadvertently steer Gallagher’s flick-on into the net via the crossbar, before Estupinan’s delivery was guided past his own keeper by the somewhat unfortunate Chalobah.

Chelsea did have opportunities of their own – Christian Pulisic firing wide from a promising position and Robert Sanchez tipping Gallagher’s looping header past the post – but Havertz’s header early in the second half failed to spark a revival.

Havertz should have cut the deficit further but he blazed over the crossbar from inside the penalty area. And Gross finished off an incisive Brighton counter-attack late on to rub salt into Chelsea’s wounds.

While Potter will take some solace from his team’s improvement in the second half, the damage was done before half-time.

BBC Reports

Manchester City moved to the top of the Premier League after Kevin de Bruyne’s world-class free-kick broke down Leicester City’s stubborn resistance at the King Power Stadium.

Foxes’ manager Brendan Rodgers had clearly set up his team to do a containing job on the reigning champions and it had worked effectively until De Bruyne curled a magnificent strike into the top corner from 25 yards four minutes after half-time.

De Bruyne’s goal was reward for City’s dominance, even though they missed the killer touch of the absent Erling Haaland, who has been suffering from a fever and a foot injury.

Leicester almost broke out of their defensive shell when Youri Tielemans struck a volley from a corner that was turned on to the bar by Manchester City keeper Ederson but ultimately they did not have enough attacking intent or quality to test Pep Guardiola’s side.

Arsenal can return to the top of the table with victory against Nottingham Forest at Emirates Stadium on Sunday but for now Manchester City are back in the position that has become such familiar territory in recent years.
The goals of Haaland have been the big storyline surrounding Manchester City’s season so far but the brilliant Norwegian was missing here having suffered from illness and injury that forced his departure at half-time against former club Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek.

It was a chance to see how Manchester City compensated for his absence and in the first half, when Leicester City simply sat back and let the champions attack with the occasional counter-attacking threat of their own, the sheer physical presence and air of menace presented by Haaland would have been a welcome addition to their attacking efforts.

And yet, even without Haaland, Manchester City demonstrated why they were the Premier League’s biggest force years before his spectacular entry on to the scene by conjuring up a spectacular moment from another area to win this difficult fixture.

It was De Bruyne, a rich seam of match-winning brilliance over the years, who delivered with a right-foot free-kick from 25 yards that was simply unstoppable, glancing off the frame of the goal, tantalisingly out of the reach of Leicester keeper Danny Ward.

Read Also: EPL: Arsenal held to 1-1 draw by Southampton

Manchester City then held firm, despite the main anxious moment of Tielemans hitting the bar, with the celebrations at the final whistle demonstrating their delight at overcoming a Leicester team who had been showing improved form.
Leicester were never going to come out blazing against this potent Manchester City side but after the disappointing narrow loss there must be the sense they were risk-averse for too long.

The Foxes were content to sit back in the opening half, giving every impression that if they were offered a draw at any point they would have shaken on it instantly.

It was always going to be a problem to implement such a major change of gameplan once Manchester City scored – as they were always likely to do – and so it proved when De Bruyne turned on his magic just after half-time.

The frustration for Leicester manager Rodgers was that when his side adopted an enforced positive approach they actually caused the visitors problems and unsettled their defence, as shown by the thunderous Tielemans strike touched on to the bar by Ederson and an incident in the dying seconds when John Stones directed a nervous header straight at Ruben Dias, the rebound flying narrowly wide of his own goal.

Leicester’s fans understood the approach, as proved by warm applause when they reached half-time goalless, but the cheers when Rodgers made positive changes and introduced strikers Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka showed they also craved a more pro-active approach.

In the end, their attempts to unsettle Manchester City came too late and the champions prevailed.

BBC reports