The UFC returned to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Saturday, with the sophomore UFC Saudi Arabia card featuring a stellar middleweight main event.
Israel Adesanya, two-time UFC middleweight champion, was returning to action in a non-title fight against Nassourdine Imavov, a surging French contender looking to throw his name in the hat for the next title shot. For Adesanya, it was his first non-title fight since 2019, when he defeated the legendary Anderson Silva. Since then, it’s been nothing but five rounds fights for “The Last Stylebender,” who became one of the faces of the promotion during his time at the top.
Nassourdine Imavov’s rise has been much more gradual, much more muted. He’s gone on three-fight win streaks before, and finds himself riding another one coming into UFC Saudi Arabia. What he’s lacked, however, is a signature win against a high-profile opponent. In years past, Phil Hawes and Sean Strickland turned him back. A win over ex-champ Adesanya? That would get Imavov over the hump, without question.
In the co-main event of UFC Saudi Arabia, it was a pirate versus a snake, as Shara Magomedov faced off against Michael “Venom” Page. MVP was moving up for the fight, which he had called for, against the unbeaten Shara Bullet. Magomedov was coming off a dazzling double-backfist win last time out, and might just land in the main event picture with a win over the former Bellator star.
Following UFC Saudi Arabia, tune in for the card’s post-fight press conference to stay on top of all the latest news. A live stream is available above.
