Nassourdine Imavov had a plan for Israel Adesanya that he and his staff noticed coming, however apparently, only a few others did.
Imavov scored the most important win of his profession with an emphatic knockout of the previous two-time champion within the second spherical of the primary occasion of UFC Saudi Arabia. Imavov had unintentionally poked Adesanya within the eye at the beginning of the spherical, and the 35-year-old determined to forego the up-to-five minute relaxation interval earlier than Imavov landed the massive shot that despatched Adesanya crumbling to the canvas — resulting in the tip of the bout.
“That was the purpose — to shock you,” Imavov mentioned on the post-fight press convention. “I advised you a shock was coming. We labored on it throughout the warmup, we labored on it throughout the entire week and it labored.
“We knew he would are available in superb form. That’s what he did from the very starting, very explosive, very quick. However I needed to put my wrestling on, and with the wrestling, [using] the fence with the wrestling, the uppercut would come. My rib was damage, however I stored wrestling to have the ability to feint, to have the ability to strike with the fence.”
Imavov has received 4 straight contests in just below a 12-month span, together with a major occasion knockout of Jared Cannonier at UFC Louisville in June. “The Sniper” additionally earned resolution victories over Brendan Allen and Roman Dolidze so as to add to his spectacular victory.
Whereas many consider Khamzat Chimaev will get the winner of subsequent weekend’s title combat rematch between Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland at UFC 312, Imavov believes his résumé has earned him a primary alternative at UFC gold.
“I cleaned [out] the burden class in a single yr,” Imavov defined. “4 fights, two wins towards top-10 competitors, two [finishes] towards top-five competitors. Subsequent is the belt.”
