Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight strikers Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa 5/16/26 will square off TONIGHT inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC Vegas 117.

Costa is in the midst of his own rise. The Brazilian picked up four excellent wins in 2025 and then started this year strong as well, spin kicking Dan Ige into oblivion a few months ago. Now ranked at No. 12, Costa remains a dark horse contender who could really break into the title mix if able to extend his current win streak to seven at Allen’s expense. Hopefully, Allen vs. Costa doesn’t get entirely lost in the Rousey vs. Carano hubbub, because this is an awesome main event! Allen climbed into the rankings by winning his first nine UFC fights, introducing him to elite competition like Max Holloway and Movsar Evloev. Though he’s come up short three times now against Top Five-level competition, Allen has been within inches of victory and proven himself a world-class Featherweight.

Allen is one of Featherweight’s finest boxers. He moves very well on the outside, stabbing at opponents with that famous Tristar jab and blitzing in behind his left hand counter. The Southpaw kicks well at distance too, making him a well-rounded striker despite his boxing aptitude. As he demonstrated against Evloev, Allen is an excellent defensive wrestler with a very sneaky guillotine choke. Stylistically, this fight is similar to Allen’s 2024 matchup versus Giga Chikadze. Allen may like to box on the outside, but he doesn’t want to spend all night getting blasted by kicks — we just saw how badly that can end for boxers in Jack Della Maddalena vs. Carlos Prates! As such, he has to pressure more and try to extend combinations, because that’s the kind of exchange that will allow his more fluid punching to shine.