Former two-time middleweight champion Israel Adesanya took on Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia. It was Adesanya’s first non-title fight since February 2019 and his first Fight Night appearance since 2018.
Imavov came into the fight with a three-fight win streak. He most recently defeated Brendan Allen by unanimous decision in September 2024. Both men started the fight nicely.
Nassourdine Imavov pressed forward and employed a grappling-heavy strategy early in the fight. However, the former successfully denied the takedowns and launched diverse attacks targeting his opponent’s head, body, and legs.
Adesanya seemingly won the first round of the fight and looked amazing. He managed the range pretty well. Moreover, he looked good in the second round before being caught by Imavov.

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How did Israel Adesanya react to his loss?
As one would expect, Adesanya wasn’t too happy with his loss. However, he remained gracious in defeat. During the post fight interview, he said:
“He must be excited to beat a guy like me. But again, I felt good. Round one, I was in control of everything. In hindsight, maybe I should have taken some time. I just didn’t want him to rest because I knew he was tired. I didn’t want him to rest. But again, [hindsight is] 20/20.”
With a third consecutive loss, Israel Adesanya undoubtedly falls further from potentially getting the middleweight title back. However, he already stated prior to the fight that he’s never chased championships in the UFC. Perhaps the better question now is whether or not Adesanya decides to return to compete again after dropping his third straight fight. Speaking about the same, he said:
“I don’t know [what’s next],” Adesanya said. “I have to chill and then think about things. I’ll relax for a little bit, just help the teammates who have fights coming up and see what I want to do. I was going to do that anyway but now I’m forced to. Shout out to Nassourdine for that.”
Catch the interview below:
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