The Russian sniper has entered the race for the belt. Imavov defeated Cannonier and called out the former champion
June 9, 2024, 08:05 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Nassourdin hopes for a rematch with Sean Strickland.
On the night of June 9, the next mixed martial arts tournament UFC on ESPN 57 took place in Louisville (USA). The main event of the evening was the fight between the best middleweights Jared Cannonier and Nassurdin Imavov.
On paper, this fight was mainly beneficial for Imavov. Originally from Dagestan, nicknamed the Russian sniper, he came to this fight in seventh place in the ranking and with a victory in his last three fights. At the beginning of the year, Nassourdin dismantled Roman Dolidze and entered the top 10, and before that, the fighter from France had a No Contest with Chris Curtis and a loss to Sean Strickland. It is true that the failures did not affect Imavov too much, and if he defeated Cannonier, he could become one of the contenders for the belt.
Jared Cannonier – Benjamin Button from UFC. The older you get, the better you perform. Additionally, he started as a heavyweight and now fights in the middleweight category. Jared has already lost in a title fight to Israel Adesanya in 2022, but remains in the top 5 and is even determined to reach the belt. Cannonier approached the fight with Imavov with two victories, and in the fight with Marvin Vettori he established the division in terms of the number of accentuated blows. Jared also secured the title fight between Adesanya and Strickland, but this did not bring dividends: he was again presented with a fight with a dangerous prospect.
Imamov represents France, but they don’t like him there:
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Cannonier started actively. He immediately approached his opponent and dealt her several dangerous series. Imavov tried to respond with two, but the experienced Jared read these threats and also managed to score a beautiful takedown. Overall, the American had the initiative and skillfully contained Nassourdin. In the second round, Imavov tried to work more aggressively. At the same time, Cannonier responded to almost all attacks and willingly entered the clinch, staggering the French Dagestani. On the wall, Imavov simply did not have enough physical strength to defeat a strong opponent. But Nassourdin little by little began to live up to the nickname of Russian Sniper and took moments to stand up.
From the third round, Imavov tried to take the fight in a comfortable direction, attacking well and in a varied way. Cannonier also landed, landing hard punches through jabs, but also often used clinches and passive control. In the fourth five-minute period, in one of the exchanges, Nassourdin hit Jared in the jaw with a powerful right cross and he danced, after which he tried to save him by running away. Imavov did not let go of Cannonier, launching several finishing sequences and forcing the referee to stop the fight.
Jared Cannonier as Nassurdin Imavov
Photo: Jeff Bottari/Getty Images
Cannonier, of course, was unhappy and believed that the stoppage was early, but this no longer affected anything. In the episode with a standing fall, Imavov continued to finish Jared, but he was unable to actively defend himself, despite the referee’s calls. On the other hand, Cannonier is considered a pretty tough fighter, one can imagine that he could return to the fight. One way or another, Jason Herzog played it safe and he had a reason for it. And Imavov now breaks into the top five of the division and stops one step away from the title. And to achieve this, Nassourdin intends to take revenge on former division champion Sean Strickland and has already challenged him.
