What comes next for the UFC Paris winners? Read on.

Ciryl Gane

With his thrilling stoppage of Tai Tuivasa on Saturday, Ciryl Gane defends his spot as the number one contender in the heavyweight rankings. Unfortunately for him, he will still get leapfrogged for a title shot by heavyweight newcomer Jon Jones, and perhaps Stipe Miocic as well if an interim belt is made. The logical choice to eliminate a contender would be a fight against Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes. Blaydes recently had an impressive finish of Chris Daukaus in March and although his third win in a row against a top ten contender was not due to anything he necessarily did himself, it still eliminated Tom Aspinall from immediate title contention when the Brit blew out his knee in the first round of their fight.

Blaydes and Gane both hold losses against champ Francis Ngannou so they will have to work extra hard to earn another chance. One fight on the rebound is not enough, and there are no other contenders near Gane in the rankings that are on such a streak at the moment unless you go all the way down to Sergei Pavlovich. It is true that Gane said he did not want to fight Curtis Blaydes, but at this point he may not have a choice.

Gane’s Next Fight: Curtis Blaydes

Robert Whittaker

When Robert Whittaker authoritatively dismantled Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris, he became the only number one contender in the promotion to have a win over each of the next three contenders ranked below him in his division. Having lost to the champion twice he still has to fight another top contender though. With Alex Pereira tied up for his title shot against Rob’s rival, Israel Adesanya, one must move down to the sixth spot to find an appropriate opponent.

It was not all that long ago that Paulo Costa beat aging legend Luke Rockhold in an all-out war that earned him Fight of the Night. After coming off of two losses, the excitement of that fight, and perhaps Paulo’s compelling social media presence, catapulted the Brazilian slugger back into contention with other top middleweights. In a somewhat shallow division ruled by a long-term champion there are many men who said champ has beaten already, but if Alex Pereira is able to beat Adesanya for a third time in his combat sports career then the challengers who have lost to Izzy would be able to start fresh. Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa are the only top seven contenders who are coming off of wins. Matching them up just makes sense. Moreover, it would be a thrilling fight between two electric strikers.

Whittaker’s Next Fight: Paulo Costa

Nassourdine Imavov

The Frenchman by way of Dagestan fought as a ranked fighter in the UFC for the first time this weekend in his hometown. Although he dominated Joaquin Buckley for ten minutes, he let his foot off the gas and dropped the third round. The opponent for Imavov is one that he prepared to face previously, Kelvin Gastelum. Fans were excited for that fight when it was booked for UFC 273 earlier in the year. Although Imavov had trouble getting a visa and had to pull out, the UFC surely will have kept that fight bookmarked for the future. This fight would be a classic case of the veteran who has fallen on hard times against the hot new thing in the division. Both men have well-rounded skillsets and a win here would establish Imavov as a legitimate threat for the top guys in the division, many of whom have had trouble with the challenge that Gastelum brings to the cage.

Imavov’s Next Fight: Kelvin Gastelum

Roman Kopylov

After dropping his undefeated record and his first two fights in the UFC, Roman Kopylov was able to right the ship when he stopped Alessio di Chirico at UFC Paris. The Russian prospect fought through adversity as he likely lost the second, looked exhausted in his corner, and still somehow managed to fight through the haze of exhaustion to knock out his opponent in the early stages of round number three. Still, Kopylov has a lot to do to regain the highly touted prospect status he lost in his first two performances. Aliaskhab Khizriev is what Kopylov once was: an undefeated and highly touted prospect, but he also won his first (and only) fight in the UFC earlier in 2022. For Roman to earn back the hype, he must go through a challenge like his fellow Russian in Khizriev.

Kopylov’s Next Fight: Aliaskhab Khizriev

William Gomis

The French Native Gomis won in his hometown this past weekend and now has a win in the largest promotion in the world. Being a newcomer to the UFC, he still cannot yet expect a highly ranked opponent off of his decision win against a fellow newcomer, but someone more established in the promotion makes sense. Enter Herbert Burns. The brother of former title challenger Gilbert Burns has fallen on rough times with two back-to-back losses in his latest bouts, but has been around the block once or twice and racked up a 2-2 record in the UFC. This is exactly the type of test Gomis needs to pass on the long road to what is undoubtedly his goal as it is for all young fighters: becoming world champion.

Gomis’ Next Fight: Herbert Burns

Nathaniel Wood

Nate Wood impressed in his second fight after moving up a weight class, a fight that was highly anticipated by many fans, when he beat Charles ‘Air’ Jourdain through a slick combination of straight hitting, slick trips, and beating Charles at his own game with dirty boxing in the clinch. Although slightly undersized for featherweight, the Brit proved that he can hold his own against larger fighters due to his bantamweight speed and high-level technique. Now, a fight against a fellow fighter on the fringe of being ranked, like Alex ‘Bruce Leeroy’ Caceres, seems in order. Two fast strikers, who do have considerable ground skill, who once fought at bantamweight makes perfect sense and it would be a surefire banger with fight of the night potential. Fans would be sure to tune in for this one and the winner would absolutely deserve a shot at a top-fifteen opponent next.

Wood’s Next Fight: Alex ‘Bruce Leeroy’ Caceres

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Tai Tuivasa

Before his loss this past weekend, Tuivasa was on a five-fight win streak that included knockouts over Augusto Sakai and Derrick Lewis. It has been rumored that Stipe Micoc will be fighting Jon Jones later in the year for what fans assume is a number one contender fight. The winner of that fight would likely challenge Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title and the loser should probably be fighting Ciryl Gane in their next bout.

With that being said Tuivasa does not have many options in the top five of the division. Sergei Pavlovich is currently riding a four-fight win streak. In his most recent fight, he knocked out Derrick Lewis back in July. Pavlovich would make for a perfect opponent for Tuivasa. He is well-rounded and has a very exciting striking style that would make for an explosive matchup with Tuivasa.

Tuivasa’s next fight: Sergei Pavlovich 

Marvin Vettori

Vettori is now 1-1 since losing his title shot against the champion, Israel Adesanya. He has a decision win over Paulo Costa and a decision loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC Paris. In his next fight, Vettori should be looking to solidify himself as the best grappler in the middleweight division. The two best grapplers in the division are Vettori and Derek Brunson who surprisingly enough have not fought yet. Brunson is coming off a knockout loss to Jared Cannonier in February and would love the chance to get back in the win column against Vettori in his next fight. Brunson is fighting Jack Hermansson in December; if that falls apart, or should Brunson win, Vettori would make sense.

Vettori’s next fight: Derek Brunson 

Joaquin Buckley

Joaquin Buckley lost a unanimous decision to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Paris. Buckley looked exceptionally good in the third round but ended up falling short. He is now 5-3 in the UFC and has been knocked out in two of his three losses. In his next fight, Buckley should be looking to fight someone with a big name to keep himself relevant.

Bruno Silva is a world-class kickboxer that is coming off back-to-back losses to Alex Pereira and Gerald Meerschaert. Before that losing streak, Silva was 3-0 in the UFC and has continued to show his expanded striking skills even in his two losses. This match-up would be perfect because it would seem both men need a win to get resigned by the UFC.

Buckley’s next fight: Bruno Silva 

Alessio Di Chirico & Charles Jourdain

Alessio Di Chirico was knocked out by Roman Kopylov this past weekend while Charles Jourdain lost a decision to Nathaniel Wood.

Di Chirico is now 32 years old, and he is 1-5 in his last six fights. Jourdain is 4-5-1 in his time with the UFC but is on a two-fight losing streak.

There is a very big possibility that Di Chirico will be cut following his loss at UFC Paris. A lot of that will likely depend on the possibility of the promotion heading to Italy sometime next year. UFC Senior VP on International and Content, David Shaw, said following the Paris show that while they’d love to go to Italy, they do not have a venue set there.

Jourdain might have another chance in the UFC, but the promotion will probably have to weigh their options before bringing him back. His biggest UFC wins are over Andre Ewell and Lando Vannata. When he fought better guys like Shane Burgos, Julian Erosa, Andre Fili, and Nathaniel Wood, he ended up losing those fights. This could mean he is just not on the level of the top 15 of the UFC’s featherweight division. That said, he puts on exciting fights, and Canadian dates are a goal for the promotion next year. There are plenty of options outside the top 15, however, with Makwan Amirkhani coming off a loss in July.

As for Di Chirico, if he’s kept, a newcomer makes sense.

Jourdain’s next fight: Makwan Amirkhani

Di Chirico’s next fight: A newcomer, or outside UFC

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He did so in style, winning a Performance of the Night bonus for his front kick knockout of Dustin Stoltzfus in the pair’s middleweight bout.

“I’m very happy for my debut, that I finally get the chance to fight here. I can’t say, I don’t have words to describe what I feel,” Magomedov (25-4-1) told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight. “I’m just happy.”

With time spent in KSW and the PFL, where he went to the million dollar final in 2018, Magomedov is an experienced fighter with a high ceiling in the UFC. No doubt due to this, the idea of fighting champ Israel Adesanya was floated on Saturday.

“I will wrestle him. I will smash him in wrestling, yeah,” Magomedov replied when asked how he would handle the champ. “If he wants to stand up, I can also fight in the stand-up. It’s not [something] I’m afraid of, a stand-up fight. But you have to be smart and know how to smash this guy.”

Ahead of his long-awaited debut, Magomedov did admit that despite his big-fight experience, there were nerves to contend with.

“Of course. This is why I work all my life, for UFC. Everybody knows UFC is the biggest organization of the world. For me, personally, it’s like Olympics. There is nothing more. I know everybody around the world look at UFC. It was a little bit [of] pressure, of course. But I’m a long time in this business, and I know how to manage it.”

As for his return, Abus Magomedov is hoping to fight on the UFC 280 card in Abu Dhabi, which is roughly six weeks from now.

“I hope the UFC will call me and say ‘hey Abus, let’s go, Abu Dhabi,'” he stated. “I’m ready.”

Watch the full UFC Paris post-fight media appearance by Abus Magomedov above.

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Haqparast (14-5) walked away with a unanimous decision win on Saturday, in a very entertaining lightweight scrap. Following the bout, he touched on the “beef” with Makdessi, such as it was.

“Honestly it was just, we trained together seven years ago, 2015 at TriStar. We were like training partners. Then we split the team, it can happen you know, and he finds his own way,” Haqparast recalled, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the Accor Arena. “We got matched, 2019, three years ago. I had some visa issues, I had to pull out. I wanted to get the fight rescheduled, it didn’t happen. Then we were supposed to fight in February, he got injured. Now it’s the third time.”

“In between that we had a little bit of Twitter trash talk. It was nothing personal. He didn’t say something against my family, me either. We didn’t cross the line. It was just a little bit of trash talk to hype the fight up a little bit. Now we squashed the beef, and everything is fine.”

Haqparast could be seen having words with Makdessi during the fight, but again, it was less about bad blood, and more about hype. Mainly, Haqparast being hyped up.

“Honestly I just love this. I love to fight, I love the  sport, I love the promotion,” he stated. “It’s not like I want to act tough, I just enjoy this moment.”

As for the jawing at weigh-ins on Friday, “I just told him ‘let’s finish this,’ because it’s just an open book,” explained Hasparat, in reference to the three years of back-and-forth with Makdessi. “Now we close the book, and the next challenge is ahead.”

In terms of the action that unfolded inside the cage on Saturday, the 10-fight UFC veteran said that little of Makdessi’s approach surprised him.

“I expected everything except he did more pressure than in his previous fights. I kind of expected a little bit of pressure, because he wrecked his last guy in the first, second minute and he switched and went forward,” Haqparast observed. “Usually Makdessi’s fighting on the backfoot, distance, touch and go. If I would come prepared for a touch and go fighter, he would surprise me today. He did a little bit, but I expected the spinning back fist and everything. He was tough, he’s experienced, very experienced, he survived when I knocked him down, I find he’s not out so I let him survive. The double legs, I showed a little bit of my wrestling. I’m satisfied.”

Watch the full UFC Paris post-fight media appearance by Nasrat Haqparast above.

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UFC Senior VP of International and Content, David Shaw, confirmed the news to Cageside Press and other media outlets following UFC Paris on Saturday night, at the Accor Arena in the French capital.

“Very likely,” Shaw answered when asked by Cageside Press what the likelihood of additional European markets beyond England and France being visited next year was. “I think the plan for 2023 is to try to get back to pre-COVID levels in terms of the number of international events we’re having. So we’ll get back to Abu Dhabi, obviously we’re going to be there in a couple of months [for UFC 280]. But we’ll be there in ’23, London, France, we need to get back to Scandinavia, we’ve been talking about going to Germany, even Spain. There’s a number of different countries we want to get to.”

That number will be maxed out by the 42 total events the promotion hold annually, and by how UFC shows are divvied up between regions of the globe — with Brazil, the U.S., Canada, and other territories generally getting a set number.

“Our goal is to try to get to at least one new country next year, at least one that we haven’t been to since COVID, but we’re still in those plan/development stages at the moment.”

Asked if Italy was a possible destination, given the strong support Alessio Di Chirico and Marvin Vettori had behind them Saturday at UFC Paris, Shaw said it was, but a location to host an Italian event needed to be secured.

“Yeah absolutely. The challenge with us is finding the appropriate venue,” the UFC exec explained. “We haven’t really determined where that would be at the moment. But we’d love to, honestly. We’d love to.”

On the Canadian front, the UFC is hoping to get back to the Great White North soon. Traditionally, the promotion visited its northern neighbour three times a year, but has not been since prior to COVID-19.

“We’re trying to get to Canada as soon as we can. Toronto’s typically a Pay-Per-View market, as is Edmonton, maybe Calgary,” noted Shaw. “Pay-Per-Views are hard to come by, then you try to line those up with availability of dates at the arenas that we need to get to across Canada.”

“We’re hoping to get back to Canada three times, as I mentioned to get to sort of pre-COVID event levels, that sort of allocation between the different regions around the world. We need to get back there very soon.”

Watch the full UFC Paris post-fight press conference with David Shaw above.

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The promotion’s debut in France has been a long time coming, and the UFC arrived with a bang on Saturday at the Accor Arena in the French capital. While the card didn’t perform top-to-bottom quite the way the UFC’s return to London did back in March, there were plenty of highlights — and one of the most entertaining heavyweight tilts in some time.

France’s own Ciryl Gane, looking to bounce back from a loss to Francis Ngannou in a title unification bout earlier this year, took until the third round to finish off rugged Australian Tai Tuivasa — but finish him he did. For all the talk of Gane’s movement and technique, the fight was more often a slugfest, and Gane paid the price early, being knocked down by “Bam Bam.”

It was Tuivasa, however, who came away bloodied. Throughout the fight, he would eat crushing blows the body, and at least one head kick. Then, in the third round, with the damage quickly accumulating, Gane rocked Tuivasa once again, and this time landed the necessary follow-up strikes to put the fight away.

The win goes down as a knockout victory for Gane, who called for the belt following the fight — though that remains held by rival Francis Ngannou. Both “Bon Gamin” and Tuivasa will share in Fight of the Night honors, UFC Senior VP of International and Content, David Shaw, announced backstage following the event.

Performance of the Night bonuses were awarded to Abus Magomedov, who scored a crushing front kick on Dustin Stoltzfus to top the preliminary card, and France’s own Benoit St. Denis.

All four fighters will pocket an extra $50,000 for their efforts in the UFC’s French debut.

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Gane (10-1) was fresh off losing his bid for the title when he lost a decision to current champion Francis Ngannou at UFC 270. It was the only loss on his record as the heavyweight holds wins over Derrick Lewis, Alexander Volkov, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Junior Dos Santos to name a few.

Tuivasa (14-3) is a big fan favorite, but had been on a run in recent years riding a 5-fight win streak into UFC Paris. 5 fights, 5 finishes over Stefan Struve, Harry Hunsucker, Greg Hardy, Augusto Sakai and Derrick Lewis. When it seemed as though Tuivasa would see his way out following a unfortunate losing streak it looked like he finally turned it around.

Would we see Gane make another case for a title shot in his home country of France? Or would Tuivasa complete an improbable comeback into UFC heavyweight relevancy and possibly even make his title shot undeniable? We found out in the main event of UFC Paris at Accor Arena.

Round 1 was a feeling out process for both men, but Gane got to his groove quicker. It was a classic Gane round as he peppered Tai with all kinds of kicks to the legs, the body, and even snuck in some high kicks. Tai had trouble getting in close to land bombs, but he wasn’t anywhere near as successful as Gane.

Round 2 began much like the first and played out like it until Tuivasa landed a right hand that dropped Gane with about a minute left. Gane attacked the body like a madman and hurt Tuivasa to the body. Both men were nearly finished in that minute, but both survive to see a third.

Round 3 the body shots that Gane invested in the first two round began to pay dividends in this round. At one point he landed a jab on Tuivasa who seemed to pretend to be hurt and Gane went in trying to finish the fight. He wasn’t able to, and Tuivasa proved to be ok, but after that it was all Gane. Ultimately it was the body shots that forced Tuivasa’s hands down and Gane landed a clean right uppercut that dropped and finished the fight for France’s heavyweight king.

Official Result: Ciryl Gane def. Tai Tuivasa via R3 4:23 KO

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Whittaker came out with his long, bouncy karate-boxing stance and attacked the lead leg of the Italian from the get-go and then follow up with strikes upstairs. For his part, Vettori came out looking to pressure his Australian opponent back to the fence but early on his punches from his southpaw stance were largely coming just short against the movement of ‘The Reaper.’ With around two minutes left in the round, Vettori tried to take down Robert through the clinch but the takedown defense held up and they separated. The head movement and footwork of the former champ stymied the offense of Vettori early and he periodically landed a variety of strikes, albeit not in combination. Everything for Robert was built off of the jab an the outside leg kick from the open stance. After the first round ended it appeared that Whittaker led by a decent margin although the fight was competitive.

Robert got off first in round two with low-line side-kicks to the knee and front kicks to the belly of his foe. A head kick attempt resulted in a slip but Marvin was unable to capitalize. This round the clinch came much quicker from the Italian but Robert shucked him off and got back to the center of the cage as the commentary recalled his takedown defense against Olympic wrestler Yoel Romero. A big right hand, set up by the jab, landed clean from Whittaker soon after, the best strike of the fight for either man so far. Marvin continued to try to land combinations by striding forward but Rob continually evaded just enough and then stunned Vettori with a right hand of his own. A blocked high kick even drew a sizable reaction from the Italian. The speed of Whittaker was thus far successful against the size and strength of Marvin Vettori. With more success came more confidence and a higher pace. For the first time, Robert was able to be the one pressing Marvin backwards due to the damage he had dealt. He soon landed some clean strikes against the fence and more stabbing kicks to the belly of his foe. The commentary highlighted a 8-to-1 live line in favor of Vettori around this point before yet another Whittaker right hand landed clean on his opponent’s iron chin right before the second round ended.

The striking flow seemed to not have any major disruptions as round three got to a start. Vettori had reset somewhat and was not yet eating the big shots he ate towards the latter half of round two, but he was not significantly making up the striking gap. Robert Whittaker’s famous right head kick landed after a minute and a half, staggering his opponent. Soon after, a knee to a ducking Marvin Vettori landed flush. Any other man would likely have fallen by now, but the chin of ‘The Italian Dream’ has been legendary since his fight with Paulo Costa last year. Robert’s flow started to become impeccable. He feinted, landed a massive straight right hand, pressed forward, slipped a telegraphed high kick, easily stuffed a single leg, and stomped on the front knee of his foe. More right hands and right roundhouse kicks were peppered throughout, but his jab, lead leg kick, and front kick must also be noted as set-up shots. Whittaker then shot a reactive double leg that surprised Marvin and took him right off his feet. As he allowed Vettori to stand up he slammed uppercuts with the aid of a single collar tie. He was feeling himself, and quite deservedly. The same mix of strikes kept coming and marking up Vettori.

The diversity of attacks throughout the fight was not anything insane, nothing unusual or unexpected in terms of specific techniques, but the timing and range of the former champion simply allowed him to land with apparent ease. Making such a terribly difficult thing as fighting look easy is truly a feat of greatness. When the judges scorecards were read the only surprise was a singular 29-28 among the 30-27s for ‘The Reaper.’

Official Result: Robert Whittaker def. Marvin Vettori via UD (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

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The featherweight fight did not disappoint, going the full three hard-fought rounds, with both fighters taking damage. When all was said and done, Wood (19-5), a former bantamweight, came away with his hand raised — and spoke to Cageside Press and other media outlets about what that sort of recognition means to him.

“It says a lot about my style and Charles’ style. Obviously we both come to bang,” Wood noted backstage at the Accor Arena in Paris. “As much as I want to become UFC champion and win my fights, I want to be known as an entertaining fighter. Even if I’m getting booed today, I want everyone that was in that arena to go away and think ‘wow, I got my money’s worth on that kid’s fight.’ That’s the main thing I want, I want to give people a fight they want to see. And those 50G bonuses always help as well.”

With two straight wins in his new featherweight home, it would be tempting to see Wood back in action soon. But he did not come away from the fight with Jourdain unscathed — rather, he appears to have aggravated an existing injury.

“I do need to get my hand sorted. My hand’s been giving me grief for about two years now,” he revealed. “I think it needs operating on, but I’ve kind of been just having to crack on with it. I hurt it on Charles’ head tonight, it’s just an ongoing thing so I might have to actually get it sorted out for once.”

That said, Wood has no desire to be out too long. “I’m hearing stories and I’m hearing Chinese whispers that next year there’s going to be maybe a stadium card or something like this in London. So I’m a London boy, I want to be in that. So yeah, I won’t be looking at taking too much time off.”

Watch the full UFC Paris post-fight press scrum with Nathaniel Wood above.

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On the other hand Joaquin Buckley wanted to play spoiler to the home-crowd’s hopes and break into the rankings, which would give him future chances to put to use the star power he gained from his knockout of Impa Kasanganay, a knockout that many have dubbed the greatest knockout in UFC history. Buckley’s intensity and explosiveness is a challenge for many a contender, no matter their rankings, but the Parisian seemed likely to try and counter that with his more measured, technical striking style. Extra motivation was provided for this bout for either man as they had both talked a healthy amount of smack in the build-up and bad blood simmered below the surface during Bruce Buffer’s announcements as the pair walked to the center of the cage to stare each other down.

The height difference was apparent from the get-go, but Buckley is used to being the shorter man at middleweight. The American came out kicking hard but Imavov still gained the front foot early and backed Buckley up to the cage despite a lack of serious output. Buckley circled on the outside constantly with occasional blitzes towards the Frenchman, throwing his patented bombs. A front kick from Imavov dislodged the mouthpiece and referee Mark Goddard stopped the fight to allow him to put it back in. Imavov, however, did not want to allow Joaquin the time to do so and got a stern warning from Goddard for his impatience. When action resumed, the Dagestan-born Imavov got back to his forward pressure and front kick heavy offense. He also clearly intended to mix the martial arts as a clinch exchange soon resulted in some good strikes landing on Joaquin. Over and over again Buckley tried to land his big right hand but Imavov simply ducked down behind the big wall of bone that is his lead left shoulder. This sequence repeated itself many times in the first two rounds as Nassourdine’s speed proved to be an important factor in his performance. At one point a massive right roundhouse from Imavov seemed to land on the chin of a Buckley who ducked into the strike. Still, the American incredibly ate the kick with ease and continued his takedown attempt. Imavov defended the takedown with ease and got into full mount with just fifteen seconds left in the round. Ground and pound rained down until the buzzer sounded. With five minutes up, the hometown kid was in the lead.

A slip and clean right hand counter from Imavov saw his confidence growing in early round two. Buckley was throwing volume when he could but so far Nassourdine had blocked or dodged just about everything. This lead to more desperation from Buckley as his hooks got even wilder and his movement more erratic. The fan favorite Imavov played the part of the emotionless terminator to perfection, stalking his opponent. One of Buckley’s blitzes saw him finally corner his opponent and land two big hooks, but Imavov ate it and escaped the situation. Soon after, the Frenchman landed a big right of his own, but much straighter, and then ducked in on a successful takedown against the cage. Buckley tripoded to try to get up but Imavov took away his based and stepped over to half guard, and then took the back smooth as you like. A neck crank attempt contorted the face of the American and clearly caused him pain but he refused to tap to a submission that was not fully locked in. Still, Imavov had a minute to work and kept alternating between strikes and submission attempts to the crowd’s delight. Elbows to the side of the head cut open Buckley badly and another vicious neck crank attempt followed. For good measure, Imavov even slapped his foe in the face, a la the infamous ‘Stockton Slap’ of the Diaz brothers, right before the end of the second round.

A shifting uppercut early in the last round put Buckley on his back foot but he was not to be deterred. The underdog, clearly down two rounds, blitzed forward and landed some big shots while Imavov’s hands were down. Nassourdine had a trick in his back pocket which he pulled out now when faced with serious adversity for the first time in the fight. He displayed his Dagestani heritage as he took down Buckley to smother the blitz. However, Buckley was able to get back to his feet quickly. The third round saw Imavov slowing down a tad which allowed Buckley to land some big shots against Imavov’s hands-down style. Nassourdine was landing his own shots, to be sure, which made it close, but this round was initially by far the best round for Joaquin Buckley. Instead of avoiding the big attacks of Buckley, Imavov simply shelled up no when his opponent came forward. Another failed takedown attempt turned into a clinch. That delayed the onslaught for a minute and let the Frenchman recover but Buckley was not to be held against the fence.

For the first time, it was Buckley who was going forward. A massive knee after a failed takedown attempt landed flush on the chin of Imavov, showing his toughness off but also turning the tide more. Buckley was clearly in the lead of the final round of the fight with less than a minute left, but would it be too little, too late? Buckley swung like a wild man and both men were absolutely exhausted, but Imavov just survived to the final bell. The home crowd seemed to recognize that their fighter had lost the round but still cheered exuberantly, assuming that he had won the first two rounds, and rightly so. The fans in Paris cheered at the unanimous decision and an exhausted but cheerful Nassourdine Imavov gave his post-fight interview where he was complimentary of Buckle despite the bad blood that they brought into the cage initially.

Official Result: Nassourdine Imavov def. Joaquin Buckley via UD (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

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