-
Andreas Hale, ESPN
Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will compete in his first nontitle fight since 2019 when he faces Nassourdine Imavov in the main event of UFC Fight Night at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 1.
Adesanya (24-4) is coming off consecutive losses for the first time in his MMA career. “The Last Stylebender” dropped the middleweight title in a stunning upset by Sean Strickland in September 2023 and fell short in his attempt to regain the 185-pound title when he was submitted by current champion Dricus du Plessis in August.
Adesanya, 35, will attempt to return to his winning ways against the UFC’s No. 5-ranked middleweight and regain his footing as one of the greatest UFC middleweights of all time.
Fighting out of Paris, Imavov (15-4) has won three consecutive fights, against Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier and Brendan Allen. A win for Imavov, 29, will push him into the middleweight title picture, where Du Plessis is set to face Strickland at UFC 312 on Feb. 9.
The co-main event will be a strikers’ paradise as undefeated Shara Magomedov (15-0) will face highly touted kickboxer Michael “Venom” Page (22-3) in a middleweight showdown.
Magomedov, 30, is coming off a stunning double-spinning back fist knockout of Armen Petrosyan at UFC 308 in October. Fighting out of Dagestan, Russia, “Shara Bullet” is the UFC’s No. 14 middleweight.
Fighting out of London, Page will move up from the welterweight division and cut his teeth as a middleweight. Page, 37, dropped a unanimous decision to Ian Machado Garry in June. The decorated striker will aim to make his presence felt in the land of the 185-pounders but will have his hands full against a fellow striker with 12 knockout wins in his career.