UFC Former champion Isreal Adesanya is set to face Nassourdin Imavov in February, but he has his eyes set on Khamzat Chimaev.
UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker battled Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 in October. The battle was intense, with both fighters scoring savage punches and early takedowns. In the end, Chimaev finished the fight with a rear naked choke that destroyed Whiitaker’s gum and teeth. The injury shocked many, including Israel Adesanya, who was impressed with Chimaev’s strength.
“I was surprised at the way Khamzat ran through Rob,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel.“That was crazy. That was like, wow. That made me want to fight him. I was like, OK, shit, this guy’s actually really, really good.”
Following his win over Whittaker, Chimaev was declared the new No. 1 contender at 185 pounds. However, he’s not booked for the next title shot.
Instead, former champion Sean Strickland travels to Australia in February to challenge reigning middleweight king Dricus du Plessis in a rematch after they first met in January 2024. As much as Chimaev appeared to jump the line with his dominant win over Whittaker, Adesanya felt the UFC was still going to book du Plessis against Strickland.
“I knew they were going to go with this fight because I knew it was coming,” Adesanya said. “They already organized it, so I wasn’t like, ‘What?’”
As far as his own fight goes, Adesanya looks to bounce back from two straight losses for the first time in his career after he fell to du Plessis and Strickland in consecutive fights.
His return at the Feb. 1 UFC Fight Night card in Saudi Arabia is also the first time since 2018 that Adesanya isn’t competing in nor headlining a pay-per-view event. That might seem slight to some, but Adesanya took no offence to this particular booking.
“I still get paid,” Adesanya said. “There’s still a referee. There’s two of us in there. But there’s still a crowd. So it’s not in the f*cking APEX or something. It doesn’t feel any different. I think people are making it out to be something how they would react to it, but they’re not in my shoes. They’re not in my shorts.
“Yeah, it’s different, like, ‘Oh my God, it must be eating him alive to be on a Fight Night.’ I was like, it’s a Saudi Arabia Fight Night. I still get paid.”
This is also the first non-title fight for Adesanya since he became an interim UFC champion back in 2019.
In the five years since then, the 35-year-old Nigerian-born fighter has become one of the biggest stars in the UFC, with title bouts across two divisions while remaining near the top of the pound-for-pound rankings over the years. He’s in a different position now, but that doesn’t necessarily bother him.
Adesanya is taking his fight against Imavov and every future opponent as a challenge to continue to show off his improvements while hopefully adding a few more accolades to his résumé along the way.
Adesanya has one particular goal in mind that has nothing to do with reclaiming his UFC title.
“Because I can,” Adesanya said about why he’s still fighting. “And I’m really, really good at it. I almost forgot how great I was.
“I’ve achieved my dreams in this game. I still have some more dreams to achieve but the main ones I have [achieved]. I’m gonna definitely get a submission. That’s definitely a big one. I don’t even care about the belt. I want to get someone’s f*cking ankle or neck.”
