Paris, France – UFC middleweight Nassourdine Imavov went into his bout at UFC Paris against Joaquin Buckley on Saturday night looking to put a show on a show for the hometown fans.
What the fans got was a three round scrap between the hometown hero, and the trash talker from overseas trying to ruin the former’s homecoming fight.
“I was expecting more of an offensive war from the beginning. He changed his strategy in the first and the second round so he was moving around a bit more. So it wasn’t really what I was expecting,” Imavov told Cageside Press through a translator at his post-fight scrum.
Leading up to the fight at UFC Paris Imavov wasn’t one to say too much in the media, but Buckley did the heavy lifting in the talking department which brought the tension during fight week.
“It’s not that he got into my head, but with the whole…you saw on the social medias everything he was saying. Insulting me. It drained me a bit, you know my energy, because I was a bit emotional. I was just saying ‘Come get it’ because it was the whole week that it escalated,” Imavov said.
“He was running around a bit in the beginning so it was just telling him ‘Come and get it'”
Now that the fight is done and the win secured Imavov is looking forward to what is next.
“I took a huge risk tonight because he’s really far (down) in the rankings so this was an exception because this was a huge event here in Paris. All we want now is somebody above us. So even top 5, top 10. I think now I’m going to get in the top 10. I think I deserve (it). I’ve worked hard for that,” he said.
One name in mind for Imavov: Paulo Costa.
“I have to heal first. I have some injuries I might need surgery, but as I said I would like a top 5 or top 10 guy. Why not (Paulo) Costa? It’s going to be a completely different fight so let’s go,” he said.
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Nassourdine Imavov above.
