The most passionate thing that came out of Nassourdine Imavov’s mouth after scoring a second-round knockout of Israel Adesanya on Saturday was his own name. He cleared up the pronunciation for Paul Felder and the rest of the world, who had been placing the wrong emphasis on the middle vowel whenever mentioning him (which wasn’t all that much).
Ee-MAH-vov.
And just like that, through the drawn-out French-to-English translation of the post-fight interview as Saudi Arabian spectators made their way to the exits, the mighty Israel Adesanya receded into the backdrop. It was a thundering right hand that sent him reeling toward the fence, and a series of massive lefts that completed the visual. Referee Marc Goddard came in and waved off the fight. Adesanya, still locked in his pose of survival from his knees, turned a helpless palm up as if to ask, “Why?”
But by then the corners were flooding the cage
We all know by now, the end comes fast in fighting. All the swagger in the world can’t hold off the realities of fleeting youth, and, worse, the new facts being made plain for everyone to see. The reinvention of a champion almost always reports back in the form of disillusionment, which doesn’t make it easy to stomach. The 35-year-old Adesanya’s run as a two-time middleweight champion is locked in the UFC’s history books forever, but there will be no third act. The three-headed hydra of Sean Strickland, Dricus du Plessis and Imavov has stormed through whatever was left of his reign.
Not that Izzy didn’t go without a fight. This wasn’t an onslaught that made you think that perhaps he hung on too long. In fact, it was the opposite. Adesanya thwarted a couple of takedown attempts, and even partially reversed one through a scramble that sent an early message. Don’t try to channel your inner-Dagestan roots on me, it said. Adesanya generally looked comfortable. Poised. He was snapping off kicks from range, just as spring-loaded and nasty as ever, the Izzy we all know. At no point did he appear uncomfortable in the opening round, even as he took a big shot a little over midway through that got his attention.
“He got caught,” UFC CEO Dana White said in his post-event press conference.
When Adesanya looks back on the fight, he’ll see a sequence that will play in his head on a loop. He got poked in the eye early in the second round, yet refused to take any time to recover when it was acknowledged and offered by Goddard. Instead, he rolled on, wanting to keep momentum. Within seconds of the poke, Imavov, who came into the fight as the betting underdog, blasted Izzy with a right hand that spelled the beginning of the end. Imavov was ready for it.
“I promised you a surprise, and that was my surprise,” he said afterward.
The man who calls himself “The Sniper” thanked his brother and team, and said he believed himself the rightful candidate to face the winner of du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 next week at UFC 312. That makes four wins in a row for the 29-year-old who is just entering his prime, and should he draw Strickland, it’ll be a rematch that he has long coveted. This was the biggest victory of his career, but Strickland’s the true bull’s-eye Imavov is trained on. Perhaps it’s why he didn’t launch into an extended celebration.
In fact, Imavov’s soft-spoken French only doubled down on the abrupt change in atmosphere. It was as if a rock-and-roll record got ripped off the turntable and replaced with Handel. A forceful sedation to the middleweight ranks, here to replace the wow factors of yesterday.
By the time Adesanya got backstage, the world was already moving on. The graphic for UFC 312 showed on the broadcast moments after cutting away from Imavov and his team in the Octagon, highlighting the middleweight title fight between two of Izzy’s competitors, Strickland and du Plessis. It’ll be Imavov who has interest in the outcome now, not Adesanya, who has for the past six years factored into every major discussion at 185 pounds.
Had he won, he could have been cageside in Sydney, a returning hero having navigated a mine field in Saudi Arabia, on hand to challenge the winner. That’s not how it played out. And that’s rarely how it works. When the game passes by, so do the titles.
The last of the Three Kings in the UFC. The Broken Native. The Last Stylebender. It’s a long flight home.
