Nassourdine Imavov knocked out former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya 30 seconds into Round 2 in the main event of UFC Fight Night 250 in Riyadh on Saturday.
Imavov (16-4) stretched his win streak to four bouts and handed Adesanya (24-5) his third straight defeat and fourth in his last six appearances.
Imavov, who is French but was born in Dagestan, immediately demanded a middleweight title shot against the winner of the rematch between Dricus Du Plessis (22-2) and Sean Strickland (29-6) which headlines next Saturday's UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia.
"I think there's no doubt I'm worth (fighting) for the belt," said Imavov, who was born in the city of Khasavyurt, also the hometown of boxing's undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev.
"I mean, four victories in one year. Two top five, two top-10 wins. Two finishes. The record speaks for itself."
Adesanya said he felt he was in control and regretted not taking a more cautious approach.
“I hate disappointing my fans and my team. My team’s still proud of me for the work that I put into this. It’s just the thrill and agony," he said.
“He must be excited to beat a guy like me. But again, I felt good. Round one, I was in control of everything. In hindsight, maybe I should have taken some time. I just didn’t want him to rest because I knew he was tired. I didn’t want him to rest. But again, [hindsight is] 20-20.”
The co-headline bout saw Michael "Venom" Page move up to middleweight and hand Sharabutdin Magomedov his first MMA defeat, winning a unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.
Page (23-3) improved to 2-1 in the UFC, and said he planned to return to welterweight in his post-fight interview. "Look at me. I am the captain now," said Page.
Magomedov (15-1) quickly rose up the UFC scene and was fresh off a 3-0 run last year, having won two of three fights by knockout, including against Armen Petrosyan at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.
Heavyweights took centre stage next, as Sergei Pavlovich beat former training partner Jairzinho Rozenstruik by unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
Pavlovich (19-3) snapped a two-fight slump and improved to 7-3 in the UFC. Rozenstruik (15-6) has split his last four fights and fell to 9-6 in the promotion.
Despite eventually revealing a pre-fight rib injury, the second main card fight saw bantamweight Vinicius Oliveira persevere to defeat rising contender Said Nurmagomedov by unanimous decision thanks to scorecards of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28.
It was a fifth straight win for Oliveira (22-3), who expressed interest in fighting former title challenger Umar Nurmagomedov (18-1) during his post-fight interview inside the octagon. Said Nurmagomedov (18-4) fell to 7-3 in the UFC, and has now lost two of his last three outings.
In a bloody affair to open the main card, lightweight Fares Ziam eventually overwhelmed Mike Davis and won his fifth consecutive fight on the cards (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). With the decision, Ziam (17-4) won his fifth straight UFC bout. He has not tasted defeat since February 2022 against fellow preliminary card victor Terrance McKinney (16-7).
Earlier in the night, Egyptian heavyweight Hamdy Abdelwahab bounced back from a long spell away from the UFC because of doping bans with a split decision victory over Jamal Pogues.
