Preview: UFC Saudi Arabia ‘Adesanya vs. Imavov’

After what appears to be its last off week for the foreseeable future, the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday returns to the stage with UFC Fight Night 250 at anb Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Israel Adesanya finds himself off of pay-per-view and in a non-title fight for the first time in years, as the former middleweight champion looks to stop a recent skid against rising contender Nassourdine Imavov in an interesting crossroads main event. A middleweight co-headliner pitting Sharabutdin Magomedov against Michael Page should be a fascinating clash between strikers, and there are some fun fights to round out the rest of the main card. Sergei Pavlovich and Jairzinho Rozenstruik should collide for a quick knockout at heavyweight; Said Nurmagomedov and Vinicius Oliveira vie for a spot in the bantamweight rankings; and rising lightweight Fares Ziam takes on one of the promotion’s most underrated fighters in Mike Davis.

Now to the UFC Saudi Arabia “Adesanya vs. Imavov” preview:

Middleweights

#2 MW | Israel Adesanya (24-4, 13-4 UFC) vs. #5 MW | Nassourdine Imavov (15-4, 7-2 UFC)

ODDS: Adesanya (-155), Imavov (+130)

The Adesanya Era in the UFC’s middleweight division now appears firmly in the rearview mirror, but the former 185-pound champion can still remain in the title picture with a win here. Adesanya had an absolutely electric rise upon hitting the UFC in 2018. An intriguing prospect as a kickboxer who had dabbled in mixed martial arts over the years, “The Last Stylebender” overachieved in performance after performance. His takedown defense looked spotty in his UFC debut against Rob Wilkinson, and within months, he was neutralizing Derek Brunson and finishing him within a round. Thanks to an active schedule, it took him all of 14 months to go from newcomer to interim champion with a win over Kelvin Gastelum. Six months after that came a title unification fight against Robert Whittaker—which also came with the rights to who would be the face of mixed martial arts in Oceania going forward—and the result was a master class from Adesanya, who was seemingly two steps ahead of “Bobby Knuckles” at every point up to a second-round knockout. Adesanya was one of the UFC’s biggest stars and most consistent box-office draws from there, even if his performances rarely reached the highs of his rise through the ranks. His reign started with an outright clunker against Yoel Romero, and from there, he seemed to settle into a more patient style that relied on his ability to sit back and counter rather than picking his moments of aggression to pour on offense like he did in his younger days. The Lagos, Nigeria, native finally got tested in the form of old kickboxing rival Alex Pereira, who came to mixed martial arts purely with an eye towards fighting Adesanya. It came to fruition with an excellent two-fight series. The first bout saw Adesanya, much like in their kickboxing days, seemingly establish himself as a better fighter up until the point that he suffered a late knockout, only to finally exorcise some demons in the rematch by returning the favor and finally getting his hand raised against the Brazilian. With Pereira subsequently moving up in weight, it was assumed that Adesanya would once again reign atop the middleweight division without much of a challenge, but he surprisingly has not won a fight since. Adesanya’s first title defense figured to be a walkover against Sean Strickland, but the Californian instead pulled off one of the biggest upsets in mixed martial arts history. The fight was an indictment of the changes Adesanya has made over the years, as he was content to keep ceding ground to his challenger without showing much of an ability to pick up the pace and scare Strickland off. Adesanya seemed to address those issues once it was time to fight for the title once again, this time against Dricus Du Plessis. However, after Adesanya’s strong showing of balancing patience and aggression for the better part of three rounds, Du Plessis was still able to rock the City Kickboxing star in the fourth and get the ball rolling towards a submission finish. Adesanya’s mental approach to his fights has always meant as much as his physical talents, so it will be interesting to see how he rebounds from that loss since he fought what essentially should have been his winning fight; and the fact that he did and still lost raises some uncomfortable questions about his ability to remain a top middleweight as he starts to enter his late 30s. With that background, this pairing against Imavov is a crucially important fight.

Compared to the bombast that marked Adesanya’s rise to superstar status, Imavov has put in years of quiet work and now seems to be turning the corner at just the right time. Even on the regional scene, the Frenchman was defined by his physical attributes thanks to an approach that was sensible if not exciting. Large for the middleweight division, Imavov was content to peck at his opponents from range, pivoting to a grinding clinch if an opponent was able to close ranks. That also marked his first few UFC fights, which included a decision loss to Phil Hawes, though Imavov did at least eventually develop a knack for finishing some opponents in his grimier fights. When 2023 started off with Strickland marching down Imavov and outworking him in the first main event of the year without much trouble, there was still a sense that he was a thinly developed fighter being held up by his physical gifts. However, Imavov hasn’t lost since and has kept moving up the ladder, even if a lot of those performances have reflected on the flaws of his opponents. Chris Curtis was undersized; Roman Dolidze doesn’t fight at a pace; and Jared Cannonier is slowing down and was the victim of an early stoppage. It wasn’t until Imavov’s most recent fight, a September win over Brendan Allen in Paris, that he began to look like an actual contender rather than the best of the rest. Allen was able to out-wrestle him for a round, but Imavov stormed back for the most aggressive performance of his career, taking the initiative and separating himself as the better fighter in a clear decision victory. It was a much-needed step in the overall progression of Imavov’s career and comes at particularly the right time for this matchup. An aggressive version of Imavov could cause a lot of problems for Adesanya thanks to some size parity and the wrestling game the Frenchman has in his back pocket. Assuming Adesanya’s loss to Du Plessis hasn’t caused him to retool things once again, the most recent version of the former champ should be able to find a win. He’s the much faster fighter while being the rare middleweight who can match Imavov in reach; and an aggressive form of Adesanya can pour on some large margins on a fighter who can be as ponderous as Imavov at times. The expectation is a dogfight. The pick is Adesanya via decision.

Jump To »
Adesanya vs. Imavov
Magomedov vs. Page
Pavlovich vs. Rozenstruik
Nurmagomedov vs. Oliveira
Davis vs. Ziam
Naimov vs. Ofli
The Prelims