Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight standouts Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov will clash TONIGHT (Sat., Feb. 1, 2025) at UFC Saudi Arabia from anb Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Israel Adesanya (24-4) is coming into this fight having lost two fights in a row for the first time in his illustrious career. The Nigerian superstar went down to Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis in title fights so he now fights for the first time since 2019 with no belt on the line. It will be interesting to see just how much Adesanya has left in the tank both physically and psychologically for this fight. He has lost three of his last four and it is hard to see where his hunger will come for at this stage of his career.

Nassourdine Imavov (15-4 with one no contest) has risen up the middleweight rankings thanks to his three successive wins and he now sits number five in the division. The French star has been in the UFC for a long time but has only really kicked on thanks to wins over highly-fancied Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier and Brendan Allen. He now faces his toughest test and this really will test his credentials for a possible run at the title.  His style sometimes appears predictable, and his stamina leaves much to be desired. In five-round fights, Nassourdine often loses pace by the third round, which could be a critical factor in the bout with Adesanya.

As for Imavov, the questions are around just how good he actually is. He has fought some good fighters but this really is the first time he has fought an elite fighter and it will be interesting to see how he goes. He felt short against Sean Strickland in a light heavyweight bout a couple of years ago and it will be interesting to see if he it at his level now; just below the best. We have to assume that Adesanya is going to be suitably motivated but that is a risk. Assuming he is, then the value lies with him in our opinion. He has fought at such a high level for so long, we favour him to put Imavov in his place and grind the win out either on points or a late stoppage. Adesanya performed rather well against “DDP” even if it was clear his physical peak is in the past. Skill-wise, he still showed some great combination work and heavy kicks. Imavov’s go-to style — working behind the jab, building his offense slowly — plays into Adesanya’s preferred approach as well, but Adesanya is better at it. The question is whether Imavov can flip the script with his wrestling or pure pace, but neither of those options feel like a recipe for success over 25 minutes.