What a return from Nassourdine Imavov!
On the night of Saturday to Sunday, at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, the French fighter delivered an almost perfect performance to defeat the 8th in the middleweight category, the Georgian Roman Dolidze.
Dominant from start to finish but penalized for an illegal kick, the one who was 11th before this clash will be able to continue his progression in the rankings and move towards his goal: the UFC belt.
🇫🇷🔥 YESIIIII!
Victory for Imavov by decision of the judges at the end of a fight against Dolidze!
What a boxing performance for our Frenchman!!
🚀 He enters the top 10 of -84kg!!
pic.twitter.com/OjLmWiMPIJ
— RMC Sport Combat (@RMCSportCombat) February 4, 2024
Scheduled as the main event of this third evening of the year, the Frenchman had the opportunity to strike a big blow in Las Vegas.
After a difficult 2023 season, marked by a defeat against future champion Sean Strickland, a duel stopped for an involuntary head clash which injured his second opponent Chris Curtis in the eye, and a visa problem which canceled his third fight against Ikram Aliskerov, Nassourdine Imavov had lost a little time in his quest for the title.
Despite a penalty point
At 28 years old, the fighter has now set the record straight.
From the first round, the former resident of the MMA Factory gained the upper hand over his opponent of the day.
Thanks to a knee strike and a powerful left hook, he shook the Georgian, who had to protect himself during the entire last minute of this first round to avoid being beaten.
However, he suffered 63 significant strikes in this round alone, jeopardizing his chances of victory.
🇫🇷💥 THE FIRST KNOCK DOWN FOR IMAVOV!!
#RMCMMA pic.twitter.com/Tz2oOpoxEL
— RMC Sport Combat (@RMCSportCombat) February 4, 2024
Visibly completely exhausted, Roman Dolidze tried to regain his senses in the second round by holding Nassourdine Imavov against the cage.
However, he did not succeed in worrying him, as the Frenchman managed to hit each exchange in boxing.
Very marked on the face, the 8th in the middleweight category gradually ran out of energy and solutions.
The fourth round, however, could have been fatal for the fighter of Dagestani origin.
Judged guilty of an illegal blow, a kick to the face while his opponent had his hand on the ground, Nassourdine Imavov had a point taken away by the referee.
A hard blow which forced the Frenchman to impose himself more widely to be declared the winner.
A rematch against Sean Strickland?
And it was the case.
During the last five minutes, the former boxer continued to be the most precise in boxing, while his opponent tried to bring him to the ground, his specialty, to submit him.
The damage inflicted by “The Sniper” in the first round, however, did not allow him to be lucid enough to achieve this.
At the end of the 25 minutes of combat, the decision came back to the judges.
And the majority of them gave victory to the Frenchman (49-44, 47-47, 48-46), who won his fifth victory in the most prestigious league in the world.
Also read “From a very young age, we have fun fighting”: Nassourdine Imavov, from Dagestan in the top 10 of the UFC?
Nassourdine Imavov will now be able to target the five best fighters in his category.
He also announced that he wanted to face Sean Strickland again, who had beaten him last January and who, in the meantime, won the category belt before losing it on January 21 to Dricus Du Plessis.
“I was very comfortable during the fight, I controlled everything,” said the Frenchman in the cage after his victory.
Sorry, I would have liked to have had a finish but I gave it my all during the first round and it was solid, it held.
» The Georgian, however, did not do enough to win.