Former TUF Smashes fighter Benny “Blanco” Alloway is looking to make his way back to the big show and a win in his upcoming fight will help him get back there. Alloway will be facing Theo Christakos for the Brace for War welterweight title, which will take place on the 21st of November at the AIS in Canberra.
To fight for the title, Alloway defeated Rick Alchin back in September and though Alloway commented that the fight didn’t go as planned, the end result did go as he expected it.
“It didn’t go as I planned but it did go exactly as I suspected it to go, if that makes sense” says Alloway. “Obviously I always plan to make it an exciting fight and try to get the knockout, but Rick is a big strong guy, he is a good grappler and obviously had some good wrestling he has been known for pinning his opponent against the cage, look for the takedown and try and get the submission, so it didn’t surprise me how the fight went”.
Alloway’s title fight with Christakos will also be shown live on UFC fight pass, after it was announced in early October that the fight streaming service will be showing the Australian fight promotion’s events starting from the next event.
“It’s huge,” says Alloway. “Big things happen to shows that get on fight pass. Invicta the women’s promotion, they got picked by (UFC) Fight Pass and they have gone from being known to being one of the biggest women’s promotions outside of the UFC; I think that it’s huge for Australian MMA and massive for Kya and Brace at the same time”.
While on the subject of Australian MMA, Alloway points out that promotions need to be putting on regular shows.
“I think there is a lot of talent out there. I think the promotions need to become more regular like they were when I first started. When I first started there were so many fight shows out there, you could take your pick and you could get a fight almost every weekend but now it seems it’s dried up a lot and there are a lot of fighters looking to go overseas because they know that’s the way to the bigger shows if they want a more direct route”.
After his release from the UFC, Alloway fought for European promotion Cage Warriors but he is hoping to fight more in Australia to make his way back to the UFC.
“I still have a good relationship with them. There was no contract disputes. It’s just a long way to go for a fight that is not really on one of the biggest stages, they are a big show in Europe, but I’m starting to realise that if you can get regular fights in Australia then you can kind of start to pave your way back to the big show”.
With his sights firmly set on getting back to the UFC, Alloway has been able to get Marc Fiore, the former trainer to former UFC welterweight Matt Hughes and current welterweight champion ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler to be a trainer at his gym BBA Mixed Martial Arts Fitness Facility.
“He’s become one of my best friends. He took me on board in 2010 and every trip that I went on to America I was always staying with him at his house”.
“We’re family basically, he guided me and built me up as fighter and got me to the big show and got my career up and running. We still have that fighter coach relationship but we are pretty close friends”.
Alloway adds that Fiore was looking for something new. “He was looking for a new chapter and I thought he would be a great obvious addition for the gym, we’ve got some big plans for the gym and some big plans for Australian MMA in the way of training camps”.
In what will be a huge boost for MMA in Australia, Alloway says that he and Fiore will be starting up a fighter management plan. “We are going to be putting together a fighter management plan as well for fighters that don’t have avenues to get to the bigger shows overseas as well”.
Lastly with Fiore heading to the gym and with Alloway and Invicta fighter Jessy Rose-Clark, better known to fight fans as “Jessy Jess”, the gym has also recently added a notable local middleweight to their team.
“Big Joe Muir had decided to come over, he’s fighting at Middleweight in AFC. At the moment it’s the three of us that are the professional names.”
“We do have a bunch of amateur guys that are going to be competing at the end of this year and the start of next year, so hopefully we can build a bit of a stable and start to get the gym out there as a fighting name as well”.
Alloway would like to thank his wife and family, Marc Fiore for coming to Australia to train at BBA Mixed Martial Arts Fitness Facility, PUNCH equipment and Planet Max for sponsoring Alloway and his gym. Follow Benny ‘Blanco’ Alloway on Facebook and Twitter.
Image via Getty Images
