Barely four months removed from a damaging submission defeat by champion Dricus du Plessis on his latest attempt to reclaim UFC middleweight gold, Israel Adesanya ventures to Saudi shores for a must-win matchup against a considerably younger, hungry contender in Nassourdine Imavov. What say you?
Adesanya facing race against father time
TIMING is a funny thing. By the time Nassourdine Imavov was making his promotional debut in October 2020 with a UD3 win over Jordan Williams, Israel Adesanya had already won and defended middleweight gold twice – perhaps at his irresistable best against then-unbeaten contender Paulo Costa the month prior.
Slowly but surely, Adesanya’s star began to diminish and he became a victim of his own success, unrealistic expectations in a pressure-cooker sport where you’re only as good as your last performance. At the very elite and world championship level, that’s usually twice a year or three times if you’re lucky with injuries and circumstances.
Since that nerveless night in Abu Dhabi, Adesanya is 4-4 and enters this encounter on a two-fight losing skid for the first time as a professional. It’ll be his first non-title matchup since 2019 and a year earlier, for his last non-numbered pay-per-view event.
29-year-old Imavov is ascending at just the right time, while Adesanya’s cloak of invincibility has been dented by a particularly damaging five-round decision defeat by heavy underdog-turned-former-champion Sean Strickland.
Jan Blachowicz, in an attempt to capture greatness in a second weight class, can be excused. Alex Pereira, with whom he has a storied rivalry dating back to their kickboxing days, is an understandable foil. Yet lose this one and well, the alarm bells will be loudly ringing on the Kiwi’s illustrious career faster than many expected.
No pressure then, ey?
Adesanya’s last five
Dricus du Plessis: R4 submission loss (face crank), August 2024
Sean Strickland: UD5 loss, September 2023
Alex Pereira: TKO5 loss, November 22 — KO2 rematch win, April 2023
Jared Cannonier: UD5 win, July 2022
Imavov’s last five
Brendan Allen: UD3 win, September
Jared Cannonier: TKO4 win, June
Roman Dolidze: MD3, February 2024
Chris Curtis: NC (accidental head clash), June 2023
Sean Strickland: UD5 defeat, January 2023 at light-heavy
Full card, is as follows
Main card
Middleweight: Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov
Middleweight: Michael Page vs. Sharabutdin Magomedov
Heavyweight: Sergei Pavlovich vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Bantamweight: Vinicius Oliveira vs. Said Nurmagomedov
Lightweight: Fares Ziam vs. Mike Davis
Prelims
Featherweight: Muhammad Naimov vs. Kaan Ofli
Heavy: Shamil Gaziev vs. Thomas Petersen
Light: Terrance McKinney vs. Damir Hadzovic
Women’s Flyweight: Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Mayra Bueno Silva
Featherweight: Bogdan Grad vs. Lucas Alexander
Heavy: Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Jamal Pogues
Picture source: Getty Images
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