Nassourdine Imavov celebrates after defeating Israel Adesanya in their men’s middleweight fight during the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fight Night 250 in Riyadh on February 1, 2025. (Photo by Fayez NURELDINE / AFP)
Nassourdine Imavov knocked out former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya 30 seconds into Round 2, pushing his win streak to four on Saturday afternoon in the main event of UFC Fight Night 250 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Imavov (16-4, 1 NC MMA) handed Adesanya (24-5) his third straight loss and fourth in his last six appearances and called for a middleweight title shot against the winner of the rematch between Dricus Du Plessis (22-2) vs. Sean Strickland (29-6) in next Saturday’s UFC 312 headliner.
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“I think there’s no doubt I’m worth (fighting) for the belt,” Imavov said via a translator immediately after the fight. “I mean, four victories in one year. Two top five, two top-10 (wins) Two finishes. The record speaks for itself.”
READ: Du Plessis stops Adesanya, retains UFC middleweight title
The co-headliner saw Michael Page hand Sharabutdin Magomedov his first MMA defeat, winning a unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.
Page (23-3) improved to 2-1 in the UFC, voicing to the welterweight division in his post-fight interview that he could be a formidable title challenger later this year.
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Magomedov (15-1) quickly rose up the UFC scene and was fresh off a 3-0 mark last year, having won two of three fights by knockout.
Heavyweights took center stage next, as Sergei Pavlovich beat former training partner Jairzinho Rozenstruik by unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
Pavlovich (19-3) snapped a two-fight skid and improved to 7-3 in the UFC. Rozenstruik (15-6) has split his last four fights and fell to 9-6 in the promotion.
Despite eventually revealing a pre-fight rib injury, the second main card fight saw bantamweight Vinicius Oliveira persevere to defeat rising contender Said Nurmagomedov by unanimous decision – 29-28, 29-28, 29-28.
READ: Israel Adesanya stunned by Sean Strickland at UFC 293
It was the fifth straight win for Oliveira (22-3), who expressed interest in fighting former title challenger Umar Nurmagomedov (18-1) during his in-Octagon post-fight interview. Said Nurmagomedov (18-4 MMA) fell to 7-3 in the UFC, losing two of his last three outings.
In a bloody affair to open the main card, lightweight Fares Ziam survived a near calf-slicer second-round loss to eventually overwhelm Mike Davis and win his fifth consecutive fight – 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
With the decision, Ziam (17-4) won his fifth straight UFC bout. He has not tasted defeat since February 2022 against fellow preliminary card victor Terrance McKinney (16-7).
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UFC Saudi Arabia marks the first marathon-style stretch of events, lasting nine weeks. It continues a week from Saturday with UFC 312, headlined by a pair of title fights to cap a 12-fight pay-per-view card from Sydney, Australia.
