Whilst the UFC: Saudi Arabia headlines are being dominated by former champion Israel Adesanya, fans should by no means underestimate this French ‘Sniper’.
Nassourdine Imavov is 15-4 as a pro and is currently riding a fantastic three-fight winning streak, including impressive victories over Jared Cannonier and Brendan Allen.
Ahead of the biggest fight of his career to date, Bloody Elbow is looking back at when Imavov left the UFC ‘Golden Boy’ battered, bloodied, and sporting a nasty shade of crimson.
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‘Hell-bows’ from Nassourdine Imavov left ‘Golden Boy’ battered and bloodied
Heading into UFC 268 in November 2021, Nassourdine Imavov found himself as a slight underdog to Edmen Shahbazyan, with around 59% of Tapology Users predicting the ‘Golden Boy’ would turn back the streaking Frenchman.
Shahbazyan, a training partner to the legendary Ronda Rousey, was once seen by many to be the future ‘face’ of the UFC middleweight division, although a rather different picture was painted that night in New York.
After a close back-and-forth opening stanza, Imavov’s forward pressure would start to pay dividends as the ‘Golden Boy’ began to slow down.
As the second round slipped away, Shahbazyan would attempt to guillotine the Frenchman; only for Imavov to posture up and land some truly vicious hell-bows from top position.
With Shahbazyan leaking blood across the UFC octagon, the ‘Sniper’ set his sights on finding that finishing position – moving to a crucifix as Joe Rogan watched on from ringside.
“Oh, my goodness, here comes another one and that’s a heavy elbow. He’s moving into a crucifix position, man, this is terrible for Shahbazyan… Shahbazyan is just so stuck here; it’s such a difficult position to get out of when you’re tired.”
After landing around 28 unanswered punches and elbows from the crucifix, the referee had seen enough and called a halt to the contest, or lack thereof, with Rogan later hailing the immensely impressive performance.
“It was a very, very impressive performance – you are really starting to emerge as one of the more interesting contenders in the division… After this performance, I think a Top 5 fighter would be fantastic, or anyone ranked – congratulations on a very, very impressive performance.”
Imavov followed up with a unanimous decision win over Joaquin Buckley and then a controversial No Contest against Chris Curtis, before going 3-0 in 2024 with impressive wins over Roman Dolidze, Cannonier, and Allen.
Imavov can’t wait to ‘prove his worth’ against Israel Adesanya this weekend
Those three consecutive victories have resulted in the UFC booking Imavov against former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of this weekend’s Fight Night card in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to UFC News, Imavov would tease that he can’t wait to ‘measure’ himself against the former champion and ‘prove his worth’ to Dana White and the UFC brass.
“I was very happy when they proposed that fight, I knew that fighting Israel Adesanya means that I’d be fighting for the belt after and that’s my goal.”
Imavov enters UFC Saudi Arabia as the #6 ranked middleweight contender, with the title set to be contested the following week in the main event of UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2.
“I can’t wait, I’m a real competitor in life and I can’t wait to measure myself against Israel and prove what I’m worth,” he stated, before teasing that this incoming fight will be determined by who’s ‘angrier’ out of the two.
“He has good vision, he’s tricky and very fast, explosive and unpredictable. There’s a lot of pressure but it’s going to be a mortal fight, it’s going to be ‘Who’s angriest’ and I think I’m going to win [that battle].”
UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Imavov goes down live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, February 1.