Israel Adesanya closing as betting favorite to beat Nassourdine Imavov in UFC Saudi Arabia showdown
Former two-time undisputed middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya is closing as a rather short betting favorite to snap his two-fight losing run next month in the headliner of UFC Saudi Arabia — as the ex-titleholder takes on surging force, Nassourdine Imavov.
Adesanya, who still remains the number two rank at the middleweight limit, has been sidelined since last August, headlining UFC 305 in a trip to Sydney, Australia.
Suffering a second consecutive defeat for the first time in his entire mixed martial arts career, City Kickboxing megastar, Adesanya dropped an eventual face crank submission defeat to defending gold holder, Dricus du Plessis in their heated grudge pairing.
Israel Adesanya closing as favorite to beat Nassourdine Imavov in Saudi Arabia
And booked to headline UFC Saudi Arabia at the beginning of next month, Nigerian-Kiwi striker, Adesanya is closing as a -175 betting favorite to beat the +145 betting underdog, Imavov at the time of publication, with the best odds and props available for punters sportsbetting with crypto.
As for Imavov, the Russian-French contender most recently racked up his third straight win in the co-headlined of UFC Fight Night Paris, taking home a unanimous decision win over surging challenger, Brendan Allen over the course of three rounds.
Prior to that, Imavov headlined UFC Fight Night Louisville last summer, stopping common-foe and former title challenger, Jared Cannonier with a controversial fourth round TKO win in Kentucky.
And despite dropping a pair of title fight losses to the above-mentioned, du Plessis and now-former champion, Sean Strickland in his last two outings to the Octagon, Israel Adesanya has revealed with a win over Imavov at the beginning of next month in the Middle East — he plans to take the throne for the third time in his promotional run.
“They (the UFC) just offered it [the fight with Nassourdine Imavov] to me and I was like, yeah, sure,” Israel Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. What other names were in the mix? Nah, that was the only name that got offered, but Caio Borralho, he was, — you know, he was looking for a fight as well. And yeah, if they offered him, it would have been like, yeah, sweet. But then he responded when I posted or announced the fight.
“And I was like, bro, I already told you, when it’s you and me, it’ll be for the belt,” Israel Adesanya explained. “It’ll be for the throne. So I respect, I respect a guy who just wants to be strictly business. It’s like, I understand that. What do I call it? Goku spirit. It’s like, oh, you fight? How good are you? All right, bet. Let’s see. Yeah, so I respect that. But the Imavov fight came about and yeah, we’re here.”
Without a win since April of 2023, Adesanya would on that occasion kickstart his second middleweight title run with a devastating second round knockout win over current light heavyweight kingpin, Alex Pereira — turning in his first-ever professional win over his Brazilian arch-nemesis in their second Octagon tussle.
And ahead of his pairing with Imavov, former champion, Israel Adesanya has interestingly drafted former titleholder and two-fight rival, Robert Whittaker into his camp for the pairing, posting footage of them sparring and joking together on social media over the weekend.
