Nassourdine Imavov outworks Brendan Allen to land decision win in France – UFC Paris Highlights
Continuing in his quest toward a first title charge under the banner of the promotion, Russian-French contender, Nassourdine Imavov managed to turn in third straight victory tonight in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night Paris, landing a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) win over surging contender, Brendan Allen.
Imavov, who entered tonight’s co-main event fight with streaking challenger, Allen touting the number four rank in the official middleweight pile — also rode an impressive run of prior victories over both Roman Dolidze, and a knockout of former title challenger, Jared Cannonier into his return to Paris.
And struggling with the grappling of Allen in the opening round of their high-stakes pairing, Imavov, a staple of MMA Factory and Fernand Lopez before his coaching under Nicolas Ott, showed off his own overlooked grappling in the second and third frames to outwork Allen in the latter frames.
Fast moving toward a first title challenge under the banner of the Octagon even managed to shoot his shot for a title charge next, with current champion, Dricus du Plessis first expected to take on common-foe, Sean Strickland in a rematch championship clash next year at 185lbs.
Fighting former gold holder, Strickland back in January of last year in a short-notice light heavyweight main event at the Apex facility, Nassourdine Imavov would drop a decision loss.
