2/4/24: Nassourdine Imavov Earns First UFC Main Event Win
Also: Three prospects from Asia join the UFC roster.
Welcome to the Sunday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s issue provides a recap of the two top cards from last night. We’ll be back tomorrow with a preview of the upcoming week and any other recent MMA news stories. Let’s begin!
Nassourdine Imavov Overcomes Roman Dolidze To Earn First UFC Main Event Win
Nassourdine Imavov picked up his first UFC main event victory on Saturday evening, using his striking to put together a five-round performance against Roman Dolidze and win a majority decision.
Imavov’s victory headlined a card from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
The striking of Imavov was the story of the fight. Imavov nearly finished the match early with punches and then picked up later rounds with damage as well.
Dolidze collapsed to the canvas in the opening round after being caught by a knee to the body and a pair of left hands to the head. Imavov continued to pressure Dolidze as the fight hit the canvas, landing with ground and pound for the minutes that followed. While the strikes from Imavov were effective and caused one of the three judges to score the round 10-8 in his favor, it wasn’t enough to end the fight.
Dolidze utilized clinching later in the fight to slow the output of strikes from Iamvov. This did dampen Imavov’s success, however, it didn’t do much to tip the fight in favor of Dolidze either. Because of this, Imavov won rounds three and five on all judge’s scorecards.
Imavov suffered a slight setback in the fourth round, as he was deducted one point due to a foul. This penalty came due to the French contender kicking Dolidze in the head while he was bent over and had one hand on the canvas, making him a grounded fighter. This point deduction is what caused the majority decision, as Ron McCarthy’s score of the fight read an even 47-47.
A dramatic sequence ensued after this foul, as Imavov traded remarks with Dolidze cornerman and fellow UFC middleweight Chris Curtis. Imavov notably fought Curtis in 2023, with an unintentional eye poke foul causing their bout to end in a no-contest.
Saturday’s main event put Imavov back into the win column after a rough 2023. Along with his no-contest result against Curtis, Imavov lost a five-round bout to Sean Strickland earlier in the year. Strickland went on to win the UFC Middleweight Championship in the summer.
Following his win, Imavov called for a rematch against Strickland, who dropped his middleweight belt to Dricus Du Plessis last month.
Dolidze was looking to bounce back from a unanimous decision that he took against Marvin Vettori in March of last year. Before that defeat, he had a four-fight winning streak in the promotion.
Earlier in the night, Renato Moicano won in his return against Drew Dober. Molly McCann also had a successful strawweight debut, submitting Diana Belbita in the first round with an armbar.
Here are the results from Saturday’s card:
Main Card (7:00PM EST / 4:00PM PST) (ESPN+)
Bout 13: Nassourdine Imavov def. Roman Dolidze via Decision, Majority
Bout 12: Renato Moicano def. Drew Dober via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 11: Randy Brown def. Muslim Salikhov via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 3:17)
Bout 10: Natalia Silva def. Viviane Araujo via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 9: Aliaskhab Khizriev vs. Makhmud Muradov via No Contest, Accidental Eye Poke (RD 1, 0:11)
Bout 8: Charles Radtke def. Gilbert Urbina via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:47)
Preliminary Card (4:00PM EST / 1:00PM PST) (ESPN+)
Bout 7: Molly McCann def. Diana Belbita via Submission, Armbar (RD 1, 4:59)
Bout 6: Charles Johnson def. Azat Maksum via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 5: Themba Gorimbo def. Pete Rodriguez via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 0:32)
Bout 4: Lee Jeong-yeong def. Blake Bilder via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 3: Luana Carolina def. Julija Stoliarenko via TKO, Strikes (RD 3, 4:52)
Bout 2: Marquel Mederos def. Landon Quinones via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 1: Jamal Pogues def. Thomas Petersen via Decision, Unanimous
Rongzhu, Rei Tsuruya Among Winners In ‘Road To UFC’ Finals
Three prospects from Asia earned UFC contracts on Saturday night.
The finals of the 2023-24 “Road To UFC” tournaments took place this weekend from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Three out of the four brackets that the promotion launched last year culminated as part of a special broadcast following UFC’s “Fight Night” card.
The finals were initially scheduled to take place on an early December card in Asia. However, after plans changed, the fights landed on Saturday night.
Rongzhu returned to the UFC roster in the top bout of the evening, handing a tough Shin Haraguchi his first pro loss. Rongzhu out-landed Haraguchi through all three rounds but wasn’t able to put him away with strikes. He eventually was able to turn a stuffed takedown attempt from Haraguchi into a rear naked choke submission, which caused a tap with just under two minutes to go in the final round.
Yizha won in his second grand final appearance, submitting ONE Championship veteran Li Kaiwen in the first round with an armbar. Li took Yizha to the ground with a leg trip but was caught in a submission shortly thereafter. Yizha appeared in the 2022-23 finals against Lee Jeong-yeong but lost via split decision.
Undefeated 21-year-old Rei Tsuruya was the first fighter of the night to earn a UFC contract, putting away Jiniushiyue late in the opening round with strikes to win the flyweight tournament. Tsuruya swung away with ground and pound shots from the back of Jiniushiyue late in the first round, landing the strikes after previously scoring a takedown and searching for a neck crank. The strikes from Tsuruya forced a finish and made him the latest entrance into the UFC’s 125-pound division.
The fourth grand final bout in the “Road To UFC” tournament — a bantamweight contest between Xiao Long and Lee Chang-ho — didn’t take place on Saturday, as Xiao withdrew due to undisclosed reasons. The bout is expected to happen sometime in the future.
Here are the quick results:
Main Card (11:30PM EST / 8:30PM EST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 3: Rongzhu def. Shin Haraguchi via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 3, 3:06) (Road To UFC Lightweight Grand Final)
Bout 2: Yizha def. Li Kaiwen via Submission, Armbar (RD 1, 3:03) (Road To UFC Featherweight Grand Final)
Bout 1: Rei Tsuruya def. Jiniushiyue via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:59) (Road To UFC Flyweight Grand Final)