Israel Adesanya was brutally knocked out by Nassourdine Imavov in his first fight away from the belt in almost six years.
The last time Adesanya took part in a non-tile UFC fight was February of 2019 when he and Anderson Silva put on a fight of the night in Melbourne. From then he won the interim title and made a stunning six defences before re-igniting the feud of a lifetime with Alex Pereira.
On Saturday night in Riyadh, he made his return to the ranks of contenders against Imavov. The Frenchman boasted wins over the likes of Joaquin Buckley and Jared Cannonier on his way to a top five ranking.
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Israel Adesanya vs Nassourdine Imavov UFC Saudi Arabi Result
Heading into Saturday night’s showdown, all eyes appeared to be on Israel Adesanya and how he would react to losing three of his last four. Nassourdine Imavov was able to almost walk to the octagon under the radar, despite holding a main event spot and a potential ticket to a world title fight.
Adesanya walked quietly to the octagon for his first non-title bout in six years with his championship aura still in tact, even warranting a respectful handshake from referee Marc Goddard. With Cristiano Ronaldo watching from cageside, the pair got straight to engagement.
About a minute and a half into the round Imavov made his first effort at a takedown, but was denied by the former champion. The pair then traded shots on the feet before Imavov tried to get Adesanya down yet again.
The second started with Adesanya on the front foot, but things began to turn around when the former champion opted not to take a break after being poked in the eye. He continued pressuring, and Imavov turned it around and landed an overhand right from the Gods to drop his rival.
The former champion protested the call but Goddard stepped in to stop the fight and hand Imavov the biggest win of his career.
UFC Saudi Arabia featured exciting undercard of fights
It wasn’t just Adesanya and Imavov who put on a show on Saturday night, with a host of other star-making performances on the main and prelim cards. Michael ‘Venom’ Page showed off his striking skills to end the winning run of Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov.
Elsewhere, fan-favorite lightweight Terrence McKinney took advantage of the 12-6 elbow rule change to land a first-round TKO win over Damir Hadžović. And in perhaps the most exciting fight was heavyweight Shamil Gaziev landing a one-punch KO over Thomas Peterson.
There was also controversy in the opening fight of the night as fans protested Hamdy Abdelwahab’s split decision win over Jamal Pogues, who was visibly stunned to find him on the wrong end of the result in Riyadh.
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