Former UFC Middleweight Israel Adesanya has been making his first non-title combat performance since 2018 when he takes on the rising competition Nassourdine Imavov in the UFC Riyad event.
Adesanya closed a remarkable championship run with six title defenses in the middleweight, the second only against the ten of Anderson Silva. 'Stylender's' Streak was demolished by multi -year rival Alex Pereira in 2022, who subsequently conquered slightly heavyweight gold and ruled as a dominant champion.
Despite the suffering of four defeats since he became undisputed champion in 2019, the most challenging fight by Adesanya was his interim title fight with Kelvin Gastelum on UFC 236, generally considered one of the best championship fights ever.
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Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum was a war for the centuries
Adesanya and Gastelum Kwadraaten in the Co-Main event to Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway 2 on UFC 236. Two interim-title fights Heads The event, and Adesanya had just defeated Anderson Silva in a pass-of-the-torch fight on UFC 234.
Then 16-3 Gastelum drove victories over Jacare Souza and Michael Bisping, of whom the last net had just lost the middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre. Because of this controversial victory, he was launched in the middleweight title photo, but nobody expected the fireworks to follow.
Their fight was a mixed bag of momentum fluctuations, in which Gastelum Adesanya hurt in the opening frame and placed a dent in the UFC for the first time in the future champion.
Adesanya's kickboxing tree tree shone when he found his way back in the fight, but a late main kick from Gastelum almost ensured the upset in round four; The decision of Gastelum to chase a Takedown after wiggling Adesanya is still controversial.
Adesanya tilted the fight in his favor with a dominant fifth round. He deposited Gastelum three times in the last frame and almost found the finish. Gastelum was never eliminated on this point and that is no longer since then. Adesanya's efforts scored him a 10-8 round on all three scor cards of jury members, making him the new interim mid-weight champion.
Do-or Die for Israel Adesanya at UFC Saudi Arabia
Adesanya is confronted with the prospect of losing three fights in a row with a defeat in UFC Saudi Arabia on 1 February. He encounters no. 5 Ranked Middleweight Nassourdine Imavov. 'The Sniper' burst the stage with a dominant TKO about Edmen Shahbazyan in 2021 and has only been beaten once since then.
Imavov wants to secure his very first title shot with a victory over Adesanya, especially because his last five versions have been somewhat controversial. Since Sean Strickland losing in 2023, Imavov has compiled a 3-0 (1NC) record. Yet two of those victories were ugly decisions, and his only TKO victory was perhaps an early break against Jared Cannonier.
It is really do-that for both hunters, because Imavov justifies its place in the top five of the middleweight, and Adesanya wants to prove that he can still hang at the level of championship.
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