Israel Adesanya eager to “throw hands” with “dangerous” Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia

By Cole Shelton - January 28, 2025

Israel Adesanya is expecting a striking match against Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia.

Israel Adesanya

Adesanya is set to headline the Fight Night event in his first non-title fight in 2019 when he fought Anderson Silva. The former middleweight champion is coming off a submission loss to Dricus Du Plessis after losing his belt to Sean Strickland by decision.

If Israel Adesanya is going to get another shot at the title, he will need to beat Nassourdine Imavov. However, ‘The Last Stylebender’ is expecting a tough fight but one he is excited about as he expects it to be a striking matchup.

“Just straight up hands, man, just straight up hands,” Adesanya said to The MacLife. “For me, it’s a lot of, I guess thinking about how I approach this game and attack this game with each opponent. With this one, I’m really excited he seems like a cool dude, pretty chill, but dangerous man. It’s going to be us throwing hands.”

Israel Adesanya is expecting to be able to outstrike Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia. But, he knows the Frenchman is a dangerous foe for him so he can’t take him lightly.

Israel Adesanya knows he can’t take trash talk personally

Heading into this fight, Adesanya has no bad blood with Imavov. It’s the first time he hasn’t had bad blood with an opponent in quite some time, which is a relief for the former champ.

However, Adesanya says he now knows how to handle the trash talk and helps use it to motivate him.

“I just know how to deal with it now. You can’t take things personally, no matter what, even if it is personal, these guys don’t know you, so you can’t take it personally,” Adesanya said. “There are ways to attack those situations that I now know and I will when the time arises, but the time hasn’t arrived, and this isn’t one of those. I get to go in there and throw hands with this guy.”

Adesanya is 24-4 as a pro.

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


Topics:

Israel Adesanya Nassourdine Imavov UFC