Israel Adesanya eyes dangerous Khamzat Chimaev fight after seeing jaw-crank dominance over old rival
Israel Adesanya sets his sights on Khamzat Chimaev fight after seeing the chin-whipping dominance over rival Robert Whittaker at UFC 308.
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Israel Adesanya wants Khamzat Chimaev, after his fight with Robert Whittaker (Source: X/IMAGO)
UFC gold changed hands several times in 2024. The single calendar year record is 12, set in 2016. Titles changed hands 11 times in 2017 and 2024. A new champion came to be in six of the 11 weight classes in the men’s and women’s divisions. Amid the moving cogs, the one constant is to challenge something new and dangerous; a feeling Israel Adesanya understands well. Now, busy Izzy is gunning for the dangerous Khamzat Chimaev, after his recent win over Robert Whittaker.
Israel Adesanya faced champ Dricus Du Plessis at RAC Arena in Perth and challenged his gold. Du Plessis forced a tap from a rear-naked choke at 3:38 at UFC 305’s Pay-per-view (PPV) headliner. The Team City Kickboxing NZ star, however, took his loss in stride and went ‘wolf’ mode to tease a rebound. Now, he explains his interest in ‘Chechen Wolf’ Khamzat Chimaev.
I was surprised the way Khamzat ran through Rob, that was crazy. That made me want to fight him…I was like – Yea – this guy’s really really good. Yea.
Israel Adesanya on his Official Youtube Channel FREESTYLEBENDER (@FreeStylebender)
Chimaev is fresh off a Round-1 submission (face crank) – at the 3:34 mark which broke through the lower digits on Robert Whittaker’s jaw. Subsequently, it hoisted the Chechen ‘Borz’ to title contention talks finally; even DDP was interested. However, that’s a distant thing; Khamzat Chimaev’s apparent prowess isn’t. Hence, ‘Stylebender’ Adesanya sees that as quite the challenge after the pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event of UFC 308.
Once on a 5-0 title reign, Israel Adesanya was the match to make as Chimaev is now. He even went 2-0 in title affairs against the perennial 185-pound Robert Whittaker. His quirky yet unmatched aura is something rivals are emphatic on even now. Hence, the Nigerian-Kiwi fighter plans to get back to it in full force. For now, he has Nassourdine Imavov to look to before anyone else.
Israel Adesanya books non-title bout return in nearly six years: Need-to-knows and opening odds
On February 1, Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) makes his first non-title appearance since February 2019 when he headlines UFC Fight Night 250 vs. Nassourdine Imavov. The card takes place at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (ESPN+).
Israel Adesanya, 35, is looking to end the first multi-loss skid of his MMA career. Izzy is coming off a ginormously surprising unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland in September 2023. He then challenged rival Dricus Du Plessis for gold in August, earlier this year, and was submitted in the fourth round. Unlike those ones, Imavov (15-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) provides no bad blood. But to ‘Stylebender’ it’s him vs. himself only.
Imavov, 28, has been on a slow but steady climb up the middleweight ladder since his debut in October 2020. He is riding a three-fight winning streak into the most high-profile fight of his career. The streak includes wins over Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier and Brendan Allen. He recently snapped title aspirant Allen’s seven-fight winning streak this past September at UFC Fight Night 243.
After his second consecutive defeat. “The Last Stylebender” will be looking to gain some momentum back to the top of the pecking order. The props are up for the UFC Fight Night 250 main event. According to the site DraftKings, Adesanya is a moderate -185 favorite over Imavov, a +154 underdog.
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