Imavov KOs Adesanya At UFC Saudi; Should Izzy Retire?

February 2, 2025
1 week
Imavov KOs Adesanya At UFC Saudi; Should Izzy Retire?

Nassourdine Imavov stopped Israel Adesanya in the second round to give Izzy his third consecutive loss at UFC Saudi. 

The defeat raises question marks over Adesanya’s career and whether he should retire. He now has losses against Sean Strickland, Dricus Du Plessis and Imamov in his last three bouts, leaving him way behind a title shot. Adesanya started the fight well. He got his leg kicks going, landing before moving in and out of range. Imamov continued to move forward, looking to add power behind his punches. The Frenchman connected with a huge right hand, sending early warning signs to Adesanya.

Imamov made Adesanya pay in the second. He rocked Adesanya with a right hand. As Izzy was falling down, Imamov landed a left uppercut, followed by numerous shots, and the referee stopped the fight. Adesanya was unhappy with the stoppage. But in truth, he was saved from further punishment. Imamov will move up from number seven in the middleweight rankings, thus helping his title shot ambitions. Meanwhile, there is a growing sentiment that Adesanya should retire.

Reaction

“I don’t know [what’s next for me]. I’ll have to chill and then think about things. I will relax first for a little bit, just help the teammates who have fights coming up. Yeah, I’ll see what I want to do. I was going to do that anyway, but now I’m forced to. Shoutout to Nassourdine for that. He must be excited, beat a guy like me. But again, I felt good. Round 1, 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, so I didn’t want him to rest. But again, [hindsight is] 20/20. You have to really be in it to know [what this is like]. Only a privileged few will ever get to this point and understand. To be able to feel something so great, but feel something so deep. It’s a lovely game, but it’s a stupid game at the same time,” Adesanya stated

“Nobody saw that coming. I’m telling you right now. Yes, Imavov his whole team. They planned it. They saw it. [And] they worked for it. They drilled it, okay? But nobody picked that tonight. Absolutely not. That is a huge upset, a massive upset.

“It doesn’t matter how you start, it’s how you finish and he finished face down on the octagon. I’ve got tremendous respect for the champion, he had a wonderful career. Tonight it looks like it might be the beginning of the end of an incredible career, sadly. And this is a crazy thing to say, he has now lost four out of his last five, which if you ever said that out loud a couple of years ago people would think you were absolutely crazy,” Michael Bisping said

Full Card

Nassourdine Imavov knocked out Israel Adesanya 30 seconds into round two

Michael “Venom” Page defeated Sharabutdin Magomedov by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 29–28)

Sergei Pavlovich beat Jairzinho Rozenstruik by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)

Vinicius Oliveira won against Said Nurmagomedov by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)

Fares Ziam defeated Mike Davis by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27

Prelims

Muhammad Naimov won against Kaan Ofli by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 29–28)

Shamil Gaziev stopped Thomas Petersen by TKO at 3:12 of round one

Terrance McKinney defeated Damir Hadzovic by TKO at 2:01 of round one

Jasmine Jasudavicius beat Mayra Bueno Silva by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)

Bogdan Grad stopped Lucas Alexander by TKO at 4:22 of round two

Hamdy Abdelwahab edged out Jamal Pogues by split decision (27–30, 29–28, 29–28)

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