According to Nassourdine
Imavov, it was only going to get worse for Jared
Cannonier. The French middleweight earned the most significant
victory of his career to date in the UFC
on ESPN 57 main event, as he defeated Cannonier via
fourth-round technical knockout on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center
in Louisville, Kentucky. Imavov put his opponent on skates with a
clean right hand, but Cannonier appeared to be regaining his
bearings when referee Jason Herzog stepped in to wave off the fight
at the 1:34 mark of Round 4.
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While Herzog was heavily criticized in the aftermath, Imavov
believes the veteran official made the right call.
“It’s the job of the referee to decide if the fighter is able to
keep going or not,” Imavov said at the post-fight press conference.
“He took a lot of damage, and he would’ve taken even more if the
fight would’ve continued, so I think it was the right decision to
stop it.”
It was a slow burn for Imavov leading up to the finishing sequence.
Cannonier started well in the opening stanza, but the
MMA Factory representative appeared to get stronger as the
fight progressed. That was all part of the plan for Imavov, who was
competing in his third main event on Saturday.
“It was not the game plan to start too fast. I do a lot of five
round [fights] now,” he said. It’s not the same pace. In my
opinion, I only lost the first round.”
While Imavov would have liked to put Cannonier away sooner, it can
take some time to finish opposition at the highest level of the
sport.
“It was exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for a
finish,” Imavov said. “I would be lying if I would say that an
early stoppage wouldn’t [have been] better, but the thing is, it
takes some time to finish someone. What I’m happy with is a lot of
people critiqued my cardio, and in this fight I proved that my
cardio is very good, finishing him in the fourth round.”
After his latest triumph, Imavov called out Sean
Strickland, a request he reiterated during the post-fight press
conference. Imavov lost a unanimous decision to Strickland in a
short-notice light heavyweight contest at UFC Fight Night 217 in
January 2023. Regardless of what the future holds, Imavov, who is
29, believes the best is still yet to come.
“What I know is I’m 28, I just did a dominating performance against
one of the top [fighters] in the division, and I’m not even at my
best. I can even progress more,” he said. “I’m already good enough
to get the title, to get the belt. But the farther it’s going to
be, the better I’m going to be.”