Nassourdine Imavov sees a shot at gold in his near future.
In the UFC Fight Night 250 main event at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Imavov (16-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) recorded the biggest moment of his career thus far by knocking out former middleweight champ Israel Adesanya early in the second round.
“I feel great,” Imavov said through an interpreter at a post-fight news conference. “To be honest, it’s just another victory. a fight is a fight. Obviously, it feels great to beat someone who’s a legend of the sport.”
Imavov may play it cool, but he knows the real magnitude of taking out Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in such a fashion. Only current light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira has been able to put “The Last Stylebender” away with strikes.
Entering the fight as the UFC-ranked No. 5 middleweight, Imavov is now firmly among the elite of the 185-pound division. Furthermore, he believes there’s nothing more to do before he gets his crack at the title.
“I cleaned the weight class in one year,” Imavov said. “Four fights, two wins against top 10 competition. Two finishes against top 5 competition. Next is the belt.”
Dricus Du Plessis’ middleweight title will be up for grabs at UFC 312 when he meets former champ Sean Strickland for a rematch next weekend in Sydney, Australia. Whether or not Imavov’s performance was enough to secure a title shot remains to be seen.
Standing in his way could be Khamzat Chimaev, who currently holds the No. 3 spot in the promotion’s rankings. “Borz” is undefeated and is coming off back-to-back wins over former champions Kamaru Usman and Robert Whittaker. Imavov is running hot now on a four-fight streak. While he’s calling his own shot, he knows Chimaev has a legitimate claim for a shot as well.
“For now, the belt is not in his hands, it’s not in my hands,” Imavov said. “It’s either going to be Dricus or Strickland, but we both deserve to fight for the belt, so we’ll see what happens.”
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