Israel Adesanya was brutally eliminated by Nassourdine Imavov in his first fight away from the belt in almost six years.
The last time Adesanya participated in a Non-Tegel UFC fight was February 2019 when he and Anderson Silva were fighting the night in Melbourne. From that moment he won the interim title and made a stunning six defenses before he again created the feud of your life with Alex Pereira.
On Saturday evening in Riyad he returned to the ranks of contenders against Imavov. The Frenchman had a victories over people like Joaquin Buckley and Jared Cannonier on their way to a top five.
Israël Adesanya vs Nassourdine Imavov UFC Saudi Arabi result
On the way to Saturday night's confrontation, all eyes seemed to be on Israel Adesanya and how he would respond to losing three of his last four. Nassourdine Imavov was almost able to walk to the Octagon under the radar, despite holding a main event spot and a potential ticket for a world title fight.
Adesanya quietly walked to the Octagon for his first non-title fight in six years with his Aura championship still intact, even a respectful handshake by referee Marc Goddard. With Cristiano Ronaldo looked from Cageside, the couple immediately came to engagement.
For about a minute and a half in the round, Imavov made his first attempt at a Takedown, but was refused by the former champion. The couple then exchanged shots on the feet before Imavov tried to get Adesanya down again.
The second started with Adesanya on the front foot, but Imavov turned it around and landed a upper hand of the gods to drop his rival. The former champion protested against the call, but Goddard stepped in to stop the fight and to stop the greatest victory of his career.
UFC Saudi -Arabia contained exciting undercard of fights
It was not only Adesanya and Imavov set up a show on Saturday evening, with a large number of other star performance on the main and prelim cards. Michael 'Venom' page showed his striking skills to put an end to the winning run of Shara 'Bullet' Magomedov.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Elsewhere, fan-favorite lightweight Terrence McKinney benefited from the 12-6 elbo battle change to get a TKO victory in the first round on Damir Hadžović. And perhaps the most exciting fight heavyweight Shamil Gaziev was a one-punch Ko about Thomas Peterson.
There was also controversy in the opening fight of the night when Fans protested against Hamdy Abdelwahab's split decision on Jamal Pogues, who was visibly amazed to find him in the wrong end of the result in Riyad.
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