Israel Adesanya may never fight for a UFC title again if he can’t pass Nassourdine Imavov test
Israel Adesanya may never fight for a UFC title again if he can’t pass Nassourdine Imavov test
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Comment: The former two-time champion will look to end his two-fight losing streak, in his first non-title bout in almost six years. Israel Adesanya’s glittering MMA career has entered “do or die” territory. On Saturday, Riyadh will play host to Adesanya’s first non-title fight in almost six years. How it fares could very well determine whether the “Last Stylebender” will ever compete for UFC gold again.
![[Israel Adesanya (right) was on the wrong end of an all-time UFC upset in 2023, against Sean Strickland]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/09/10/05/GettyImages-1671072118.jpg)
After an era of comfortable domination at middleweight, Adesanya goes into his five-round headliner against Nassourdine Imavov off the back of two very different losses. The first, 17 months ago, stunned the fighting world into gaping-mouthed silence. Putting on a performance that paled in comparison to what we had come to expect from Adesanya, he was roundly beaten up by heavy underdog Sean Strickland over 25 minutes, losing his belt in emphatic fashion.
![[Dricus Du Plessis won a gruelling fight with Adesanya in August, submitting the former champ]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/08/18/06/GettyImages-2167221954.jpg)
That night, UFC president Dana White lost a champion he had come to rely on for mainstream attention, instead forced to wrap the strap around the waste of Strickland, an ever-outspoken sponsor’s nightmare. But you only needed to look at the scorecards to see just how deserving of a title win it was – and with that, a new dawn had been ushered in at 185lb.
![[Nassourdine Imavov is on a three-fight win streak and seeking his first title shot]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/01/09/09/newFile.jpg)
Having previously averaged two or three fights a year, Adesanya stuck to his word and would not be seen in the cage until 11 months later, when a unique rival came calling. By this point, the middleweight champion was Dricus Du Plessis, who had previously engaged in a dispute with Adesanya over the uncomfortable topic of who was Africa’s true fighting representative. That set up an obvious grudge match between Nigerian-born Adesanya and the South African.
![[Adesanya held the undisputed middleweight title from 2019 to 2022, then from April 2023 to September 2023]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/04/09/06/newFile-1.jpg)
