— Fights (@FIGHTZSS)
February 1, 2025
“The Sniper” has just bagged some huge game.
Capping of what was on paper an excellent offering from the
Ultimate Fighting Championship in Riyadh,
Saudi, Arabia, the two men in the main event made sure to leave a
lasting impression. Riding the first losing streak of his career,
Israel
Adesanya (24-5, 13-5 UFC) looked to bounce back in his first
non-championship headliner in years. Standing his way was rising
French talent Nassourdine
Imavov (16-4, 1 NC; 8-2, 1 NC UFC), a worthy test for the
ex-champ but one many prognosticators expected he would surpass
comfortably. That was not meant to be, as Imavov punched his ticket
to massive opportunities by shocking “The Last Stylebender” in the
second round, scoring the flash knockdown and forcing referee
Marc
Goddard to step in.
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As the fight began, Adesanya looked every bit of his former self,
showing that at the age of 35 that he still had not lost a step.
Keeping Imavov at bay in his trademark switch stance with plenty of
lateral movement, Adesanya not only landed cleanly but turned any
wrestling implemented by Imavov against him. The precision of the
Nigerian-born Kiwi carried on into Round 2, with snappy leg kicks
and piston-like jabs only interrupted by an eye poke. Although
Adesanya waved off Goddard to keep the fight going, it may not have
been in his best interest to do so. Springing forward with a
massive right hook, “The Sniper” blasted the former middleweight
kingpin and sent him crashing against the wall and down to the
canvas with a devastating uppercut. Knowing the finish was right
around the corner, the Frenchman leapt on the back of his downed
foe and drilled him on the sides of the head with a few punches
before Goddard said enough was enough at 30 seconds into the second
stanza.
Once considered to be approaching all-time great Anderson
Silva for the top middleweight in the sport’s history, the
crestfallen Adesanya has now fallen short in three straight
headliners. On the other hand, Imavov may have laid claim to a
championship opportunity after recording the biggest victory of his
career.
Moving back to middleweight for the first time since he rode the
Super Fight League circuit over a decade ago, Michael
Page (23-3, 2-1 UFC) shrugged off any offense that Sharabutdin
Magomedov (15-1, 4-1 UFC) hurled at him over three tepid rounds
of cautious kickboxing. While Page occasionally found his range
with a leaping shot, Magomedov could not connect upstairs for the
good part of two rounds due to the elusiveness of “MVP.” The result
was far from stunning, as neither man came close to performing a
knockout that measured up to their respective highlight reels. As
the dust settled, Page had done enough in the eyes of the three
scorers, who saw it 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 for the British
kickboxer.
“I’m the captain now,” Page said to the camera, in reference to
“Shara Bullet” dressing and representing himself as a pirate. Not
only did he get back in the green, but “MVP” also procured some
treasure in the form of a gold ring with MVP written on it in
gemstones.
Much to the disappointment of the crowd packed inside of the anb
Arena, Sergei
Pavlovich (19-3, 7-3 UFC) and Jairzinho
Rozenstruik (15-6, 9-6) authored one of the worst performances
in recent memory over 15 grueling minutes. The heavyweights never
got out of first gear, even when Pavlovich established top position
in the latter two rounds and held on from above for minutes at a
time. Unlike most of their previous encounters, the danger of the
knockout was practically off the table early into the fight.
Neither man willing to exchange much, boo birds whistled and howled
as the fight dragged on. Even though both big men did little,
Pavlovich was the more active of the two, so judges had no choice
but to award him the unanimous decision with three 30-27 to put it
all behind them.
While Pavlovich puts his first losing streak in the rear-view
mirror, the outing did not likely earn him many fans or diminish
the narrative that the upper echelon of the division may still
elude him.
Springing the biggest betting upset of the day, Vinicius
Oliveira (22-3, 3-0 UFC) thwarted the efforts of Dagestani
ground specialist Said
Nurmagomedov (18-4, 7-3 UFC). While Nurmagomedov, unrelated to
the fighting family including Khabib
Nurmagomedov and Usman
Nurmagomedov, had success in the early going, his energy
reserves depleted fairly rapidly. The Brazilian maintained a steady
pace, wrenching his foe to the mat a few times and taking advantage
of a slip to keep the 32-year-old from Fight Club Akhmat grounded
for prolonged stretches to further exhaust him. When the final bell
sounded, all three judges believed “LokDog” had done enough, giving
him matching 29-28 nods on all sides.
Since debuting in the promotion in 2024 off of a one-hitter quitter
on Dana White’s Contender Series, all Oliveira has done is win,
notching his third victory in the Octagon thus far.
French striker Fares Ziam
(17-4, 7-2 UFC) defused hard-charging Mike Davis
(11-3, 4-2 UFC) over the course of three hard-fought rounds. The
X-factor for the Frenchman was to mix in his wrestling, forcing
Davis to not only defend takedowns but also become occupied with
wondering when the next would come. This took some sting out of his
blows, in addition to Davis suffering a mighty cut from a Ziam
knee. “Smile Killer” was a step ahead, thwarting submission setups
and depositing Davis to the mat repeatedly to get his hand raised.
The victor was in no doubt when the dust settled, as Ziam laid
claim to three 30-27 scores.
Quietly climbing the talent-rich lightweight division, Ziam has won
five straight, although four have come at the hands of the
judges.
Muhammadjon
Naimov (12-3, 4-1 UFC) represented his proud nation of
Tajikistan to conclude the prelims, taking a grappling-heavy
decision over Australia Top Team rep Kaan Ofli
(11-4-1, 0-2 UFC). When it was not Naimov landing his own
takedown—needing just one for each of the first two rounds—it was
Ofli running into the rock wall of “Hillman” and ultimately falling
to his back. Try as he might, Ofli could not make up ground to sway
judges in his favor. Two scorers issued tallies of 30-27 along with
a single 29-28 card, all in favor of the rebounding Naimov.
This three-round victory places Naimov back in the win column after
suffering his first career stoppage loss last June.
In other preliminary action, ranked heavyweight Shamil
Gaziev (14-1, 3-1 UFC) flattened Thomas
Petersen (9-3, 1-2 UFC) with one punch at 3:12 of the opening
frame; Terrance
McKinney (16-7, 6-4 UFC) kept his 100% finish rate intact by
making short work of fellow lightweight Damir
Hadzovic (14-8, 4-6 UFC), drumming out the Bosnian in a whisker
over two minutes; Jasmine
Jasudavicius (13-3, 7-2 UFC) represented women on the lineup by
outgrappling ex-bantamweight Mayra
Bueno Silva (10-5-1, 1 NC; 5-5-1, 1 NC UFC) en route to a
clear-cut decision win with a trio of 30-27 scores; Lucas
Alexander (8-5, 1-3 UFC) paid in spades by missing
featherweight by 2.5 pounds and then getting pummeled with elbows
and punches courtesy of the debuting Bogdan Grad
(15-2, 1-0 UFC), with the finish coming in the second round at the
4:22 mark; the event kicked off with a slow-paced heavyweight
striking affair as Hamdy
Abdelwahab (6-0, 1 NC; 1-0, 1 NC UFC) returned from a lengthy
suspension to capture a split verdict over Jamal
Pogues (11-5, 2-2 UFC).