A Dagestani in Paris: Nassourdine Imavov’s quiet path of destruction has led to Israel Adesanya

It can be said that you can take the boy out of Dagestan, but you can’t take Dagestan out of the boy. That’s certainly true in the case of Nassourdine Imavov.

Imavov and his family moved to France from his native Dagestan when he was just a kid, and it was only there — in Salon-de-Provence on the blue banks of the Mediterranean — that he first dipped a toe in the boxing ring. It was enough to get him hooked. That was 20 years ago, when the UFC had names like Jens Pulver and Carlos Newton and B.J. Penn ruling its distant underground.

Back then Dagestan wasn’t yet known as an MMA factory. And France? It wouldn’t even legalize MMA until 2020. Yet Imavov was drawn to the fight game early on, and as we cut forward to the present day, his worlds are colliding as he emerges as a contender in the UFC’s middleweight division.

He has the soft-spoken accent of a poet, the fierce beard of the Caucasus, and a golden chance ahead of him in Saturday's UFC Saudi Arabia main event against former UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya.

“The motivation for this one is through the roof, because I know it’s a big opportunity” Imavov says. “And I know that after this fight the [UFC] are going to propose something very good for me. I have a lot of motivation for this fight.”

That proposal would seem to be a title shot, as current 185-pound champion Dricus du Plessis is set to defend the belt against former champ Sean Strickland just a week later on Feb. 8 at UFC 312. The timing couldn’t be better for Imavov to make a statement as a top contender, and it has been "implied” to Imavov that he’s one big showing away from getting the chance to bring the title back to France.

Yet the hurdle in front of him just happens to be one of the greatest middleweights of all time. Adesanya still carries the mystique of a champion, both in name and in demeanor. Over the past few years he has been involved in some of the biggest fights the UFC has put on, including 12 total title fights, with five successful defenses. He has twice carried the middleweight belt around his waist and created marquee rivalries with Robert Whittaker and Alex Pereira.

In fact, this is the first middleweight non-title fight Adesanya has been forced to take since he snatched the legacy baton from Anderson Silva at UFC 234, nearly six years ago. It’s not exactly do-or-die for Adesanya, but it’s close. Imavov, who has gone undefeated since losing a decision to Strickland a couple of years back, represents an unsexy mojo-check to see if "The Last Stylebender” still has it.

“He’s going to come in very motivated, very hungry,” Imavov says. “He doesn’t want to lose his third fight in a row. He doesn’t want to lose against me. So I’m expecting the best of Israel Adesanya to come on fight night, the one who went up against Kelvin Gastelum, ready to die in the cage. That’s what I expect from him. And that’s the one I want to beat, the best version of Israel Adesanya.”

Here Imavov pauses a second to caution that motivation works both ways.

“But there’s a lot of motivation from me, too, because he’s a legend, one of the great legends of the sport,” he says. “It means a lot to go against him.”

Of course, there’s a language barrier and translators are required to bring home Imavov’s broader points, but his excitement levels don’t easily match the gravity of what he’s saying. Charisma isn’t a specialty of Imavov’s, nor bombast. There’s a sedation to him, a drowsiness to his speech that perhaps throws back to his Dagestan roots.

Big talkers don’t often come from that region. Big actions do. The quieter the Dagestanis are, it seems, the more severe the storm.

You get the sense, even if it’s not exactly true, that a gig is a gig is a gig. Imavov’s natural reaction, even if it’s the biggest fight of his career, with stakes that are as wild as they are fateful, is to downplay.

But it's been an interesting build for Imavov, whose quiet path of destruction carved through Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier and Brendan Allen to land him in front of Adesanya. He has shown that he can knock people out, starting with Ian Heinisch and ending with Cannonier out in Louisville this past June.

Yet sometimes he can just simply outlast his opponents, refusing to lose, turning it up just a notch when it counts most, as he did with Allen in his most recent fight. In 10 UFC bouts, Imavov has lost just twice (first to Phil Hawes, and then to Strickland) and has never been awarded an end-of-the-night bonus.

Fireworks? More like a serious menace to be dealt with. A sludging dictator of wills who’s not so much hell-bent on aesthetics as he is on winning.

Still, there’s a country behind him. The one that introduced him to fighting. Coinciding with Imavov’s current run is the emergence of France as MMA’s new hotbed. Imavov was treated as a hero for his victory over Allen, which took place in the heart of Paris, at the Accor Arena in September. As we’ve seen with Cédric Doumbé, you won’t find a more passionate market in MMA as 2025 gets rolling. Should Imavov overcome Adesanya, the French will have another reason to make a scene.

“That’s not what I’m looking for, being a star in France,” Imavov says. “I don’t care that much about that. If I can inspire the young people to get better, that’s something suitable. But my goal is to be the champ, to be the best in the world at what I do. And that’s why I work on that on a daily basis.”

Sober and to the point.

Asked who he thinks will win the division's title fight at UFC 312 in Sydney, the cold of Dagestan shows through Imavov’s stare, and the words sound dangerously detached from all emotion.

“Sean Strickland,” he says. “I would like to avenge my loss against him and take the belt from him.”