Arnold Allen vs. Dan Hooker, Gunnar Nelson vs. Claudio Silva Set for UFC London

A pair of intriguing matchups have been booked for UFC London, as Arnold Allen will take on Dan Hooker at featherweight, while Gunnar Nelson will face Claudio Silva at welterweight.

Promotion officials announced Allen vs. Hooker, while multiple outlets confirmed Nelson vs. Silva following an initial report via Twitter. UFC Fight Night 204 takes place at the O2 Arena in London and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt pitting Alexander Volkov against Tom Aspinall.

The 28-year-old Allen has won his last 10 professional outings — including eight in UFC competition. The Englishman known as “Almighty” fought once in 2021, earning a unanimous decision over Sodiq Yusuff at UFC on ABC 2 last April. His ledger also includes wins over the likes of Nik Lentz, Gilbert Melendez and Makwan Amirkhani.

Hooker will return to 145 pounds for the first time since November 2016, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Jason Knight at UFC Fight Night 101. “The Hangman” went 3-3 in six Octagon appearances as a featherweight before moving to 155 pounds, where he was victorious in seven of his first eight outings. More recently, Hooker has fallen on hard times, losing three of his last four bouts — including a submission defeat to Islam Makhachev at UFC 267.

Nelson hasn’t competed since September 2019, when he fell to Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 160. The 33-year-old Iceland native has lost three of his last four UFC bouts dating back to a first-round KO defeat at the hands of Santiago Ponzinibbio in July 2017.

Silva won 14 consecutive bouts from 2007 to 2019, a run that featured five UFC victories. In more recent times, the 39-year-old “Hannibal” has dropped back-to-back decisions against James Krause and Court McGee in his last two promotional appearances.