Nassourdine Imavov defeats Joaquin Buckley, wins third-straight fight at UFC Paris
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us today, September 3, 2022, for UFC Paris, marking the promotions first ever event in France, going down live from the Accor Arena.
Headlining the event was a clash of top ranked heavyweight contenders, as former interim champion and no. 1 ranked Ciryl Gane (10-1) faced off with no. 3 ranked Tai Tuivasa (14-3) in the main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event is also a matchup of ranked contenders, as former middleweight champion, no. 1 ranked Robert Whittaker (23-6) faced no. 3 ranked Marvin Vettori (18-5-1) in the co-main event.
Our feature fight of the evening also came in the middleweight division, this one between Narrourdine Imavov (11-3) and Joaquin Buckley (15-4). Imavov has gone 3-1 thus far into his UFC tenure, while Buckley has gone 5-2 through his first seven promotional bouts, and both came into the bout on win streaks.
Continue reading to see how this middleweight feature bout went down:
Official Result: Nassourdine Imavov def. Joaquin Buckley via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Buckley is having a very difficult time finding his range throughout the first round. He shoots a takedown on Imavov, who stuffs it and spins to take Buckley’s back, ending up in mount. He proceeds to reigns down some punches and elbows for the final ten or so seconds of the round.
Buckley’s troubles continue into the second round, where Imavov showcases beautiful, fluent striking while stuffing all of Buckley’s takedown attempts. Buckley lands a hard two-punch combination, his biggest moment of the fight, but Imavov remains unfazed.
Imavov secures a takedown of his own and takes Buckley’s back, trying for a neck crank or rear naked choke, but was unable to secure it and they go into the third and final round.
The last five minutes showed a much different story however, as Buckley begins to turn the tide.
Imavov was fading, and Buckley was able to get on the inside of him and uncork those heavy bombs of his. He lands a number of them, many of them in the middle or end of combinations, but he wasn’t able to get the Russian out of there and it cost him the fight.
Nassourdine Imavov improves to 12-3 as a professional, and he’s now won his last three-straight inside the octagon.
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