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Nassourdine Imavov has a huge opportunity this weekend.
In fighting, the new are often built off of, and fed upon, the old. Anderson Silva was fed to Israel Adesanya. Tyron Woodley was fed to Kamaru Usman. Jose Aldo was fed to Max Holloway.
This is the nature of fighting. But there were many who were thought to be the next to take over that didn’t pan out: Dominick Reyes to Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen to the aforementioned Silva. Imavov has a fork in the road ahead of him.
Beating the old and new
Nassourdine Imavov has beat some great names already in the division. Brendan Allen, Jared Cannonier, Roman Dolidze. But he lacks that marquee win. That win that actually means something. Well, the UFC is giving him a chance now.
None are trickier than Israel Adesanya. A wealth of talent, Adesanya is no easy out, even at 35 years of age. But Nassourdine Imavov has been handed hard fights before. He’s come up short in some, like against Sean Strickland, and he’s overcome some, like Allen.
Now Imavov finds himself in the fifth ranked spot of the UFC’s middleweight division. He’s taking on the number two fighter. And with Du Plessis and Strickland already fighting along with Khamzat Chimaev chomping at the bit to get a title shot, Imavov cannot afford a boring fight, even if it goes his way.
Nassourdine Imavov must win convincingly
Nobody has convincingly beat Israel Adesanya outside of Dricus Du Plessis and arguably Sean Strickland. Jan Blachowicz layed on him. Alex Pereira was losing a fight and caught him in round five. Adesanya has already avenged that as well.
But the catch there is Du Plessis and Strickland were his two most recent fights. Both were losses for Adesanya. Israel Adesanya has never lost two in a row before he fought Du Plessis. He’s never lost three in a row period.
Nassourdine Imavov has the opportunity to be that person to hand Adesanya his third on the trot. This could see Adesanya go into a tailspin like legends before him: Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, Tony Ferguson, and Chuck Liddell.
But Imavov has to win. He has to go out and put on a show. He has to perform. Not only does he have the hardest puzzle in front of him in Israel Adesanya, but he has the UFC brass, who would much rather see Chimaev take the title shot next, watching closely. Lose or even win boringly and Nassourdine Imavov will be overtaken by Chimaev to get the winner of Du Plessis and Strickland. The stakes are high.
