UFC Predictions: UFC Fight Night: Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov

The UFC heads to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next weekend. While it's a Fight Night card, it's still a stacked one.

UFC Fight Night: Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov features some huge fights between some major stars, and should be a lot of fun. With plenty on the line, this should be an event to watch.

Here are the predicted outcomes for UFC Fight Night: Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov.

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#1. UFC middleweight bout: Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov

This event's headliner is not only a strong one in terms of name value, but it's a truly fascinating fight between two men who absolutely need to win.

For Israel Adesanya, this fight represents a chance for him to prove that he's still a valid contender at middleweight and that he's not past his prime, as some suspect.

For Nassourdine Imavov, it's a huge chance for him to claim the biggest scalp of his career and vault into the top five and into title contention too.

Adesanya, remarkably, has not won a fight since he took revenge and knocked out Alex Pereira in the spring of 2023. Since then, he looked jaded and tired in a poor loss to Sean Strickland and then fell to Dricus du Plessis despite showing flashes of his previous greatness.

Realistically, 'The Last Stylebender' still has the skills to be the champion in this division, assuming he isn't shot. With Pereira gone, the New Zealand-based fighter is still the best striker at 185 pounds. While there are questions around his ground game and now his durability, at his best, he's still very hard to beat.

Imavov, of course, is not nearly as proven. 'The Sniper' does have an impressive record of 6-2 with one No Contest, but his best win is probably Jared Cannonier, a man who Adesanya beat handily.

The issue for Imavov here is that his best area is his striking, the same area in which Adesanya obviously excels.

'The Sniper' hits very hard and has solid fundamentals, but equally, he isn't as quick as Adesanya, is not as accurate, and doesn't hold the threat of the takedown to really worry 'The Last Stylebender'.

The fact that Strickland was able to beat 'The Last Stylebender' standing will give Imavov some hope. Obviously, Adesanya didn't look anything like his normal self in that fight, but if 'The Sniper' can walk him down like Strickland did, there's a chance he can throw him off his game.

With that said, Adesanya surely knows this fight probably marks his only chance to get back into any kind of title contention. More to the point, he was perhaps simply tired against Strickland more than anything else.

Therefore, if Imavov does try that gameplan, there's an equally large chance that Adesanya simply counters on him and either takes him out or hurts him badly enough to throw him off his game.

Sure, he's lost to the current champ and the top contender, but Khamzat Chimaev looms large over them both and will surely claim the gold in the near future. If Adesanya can win here, he'd be the perfect top contender for a new champ like that.

Given he's had a bit of a break following his loss to du Plessis, as well as the fact that stylistically, he matches well with Imavov, it's hard to pick against him here.

The pick, then, is Adesanya in a five-rounder that sees him fight through adversity a couple of times.

The Pick: Adesanya via decision

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#2. UFC middleweight bout: Sharaputdin Magomedov vs. Michael 'Venom' Page

This weekend's co-headliner features two of the flashiest strikers in the UFC facing off. It's a fascinating fight because while neither man is past his prime and one, in particular, should be shooting for title contention, it's more of a "superfight" than anything else.

Of the two, Michael 'Venom' Page has the least to lose. The former Bellator star entered the octagon for the first time last year with an entertaining win over Kevin Holland, moving into the top 15 at 170 pounds in the process.

His second fight saw him lose to Ian Machado Garry. However, given Garry's status as a genuine title contender, the fact that Page tested him was more proof that he could be a threat to anyone in the division.

However, rather than look for a bout with a fellow ranked opponent like say, Gilbert Burns or Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, the British striker has agreed to move up in weight to face the surging Sharaputdin Magomedov.

'Shara Bullet' made his way into the UFC in 2023 with plenty of hype, and it's fair to say he's lived up to it. After a slightly tentative debut win, he's reeled off a further three victories, including a classic double-spinning backfist KO of Armen Petrosyan.

What makes this fight interesting is that it pits an almost pure counter striker in Page against a fighter who is less polished but perhaps more dangerous offensively in Magomedov.

'Shara Bullet' is very unlikely to sit back and wait for Page to come to him, as Garry did at times. Instead, particularly as he's the bigger man, he's likely to push the pace and hope he can avoid any counters 'Venom' throws at him.

That could be a massively dangerous approach for him, though. Not only is Page a master of timing his strikes perfectly, but he's also proven to be very difficult to knock out, only ever being stopped once.

The same could be said for 'Shara Bullet', of course, as he's still unbeaten entirely. However, we genuinely don't know what could happen if someone like Page cracks him cleanly.

The big X-factor here is how Magomedov sees his own career going. If he has eyes on becoming a middleweight title contender, he can't really afford to lose to someone who, realistically, is a blown-up 170-pounder. That may mean he doesn't fight with such reckless abandon as usual - and in turn, it could mean the bout is not as exciting as many people suspect it could be.

Overall, this is a remarkably difficult fight to pick. However, due to his size advantage and likely superior power, the prediction is Magomedov, but in a fight that sees both men hurt at points.

The Pick: Magomedov via decision

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#3. UFC Fight Night: The Main Card

In a heavyweight bout, Sergei Pavlovich takes on Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Given he's winless in two, this is a huge fight for Pavlovich, who needs a victory to keep his spot near the top of the division.

Rozenstruik will not be an easy opponent for him, though. Not only has 'Bigi Boy' won his last two fights, but he's also a far more technical striker than Pavlovich, who tends to throw with pure power more than anything.

With that said, the big Russian has the speed advantage here, and Rozenstruik has suffered two knockout losses before. The most notable of them was when Francis Ngannou unleashed a wild combo on him, forcing him to back straight up.

If Pavlovich can flurry on the Surinamese fighter early, then, he can probably win. The pick is Pavlovich via TKO.

At bantamweight, Said Nurmagomedov faces Vinicius Oliveira. While a couple of losses on Nurmagomedov's record have prevented him from garnering the same hype as his teammate - not relation - Khabib Nurmagomedov - he's still a hugely dangerous grappler.

Oliveira, though, could prove to be a tricky foe for him. 'LokDog' debuted in excellent fashion last year, beating a previously top 15-ranked foe in Ricky Simon with relative ease.

Basically, this one should come down to whether Oliveira can stop the takedown. If he can, he should be able to outstrike Nurmagomedov for a win. If he can't, though, he's in trouble. Given that Oliveira largely prevented Simon's takedowns, there's a chance he does just that.

This is one of the trickiest fights to pick on this card, but the pick is Oliveira via decision.

In a middleweight tilt, Ikram Aliskerov faces Andre Muniz. This should be an interesting test for Aliskerov. He received a ton of hype last year, but that hype largely got eviscerated when he was knocked out by Robert Whittaker.

Muniz, though, is a much more favorable match for the Dagestani. A world-class grappler, the Brazilian does not have the greatest takedowns and he hasn't really shown himself to be a strong kickboxer.

With that considered, assuming Aliskerov hasn't been too badly affected by his loss to Whittaker, this should be a nice bounce-back fight for him. The pick is Aliskerov via KO.

Finally, a featherweight bout pits Muhammad Naimov against Kaan Ofli. A former star in taekwondo, Naimov garnered a lot of hype last year following his wins over Jamie Mullarkey and Nathaniel Wood. However, a submission loss to Felipe Lima raised a lot of questions about his ground game.

Is Australia's Ofli the fighter to test that? Perhaps, as he does have a solid number of submissions to his name with five. However, he's never really beaten a UFC-level opponent, and lost his octagon debut, largely in one-sided fashion. The pick, therefore, is Naimov via KO.

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#4. UFC Fight Night: The Prelims

Picks in bold

UFC heavyweight bout: Shamil Gaziev vs. Thomas Peterson

UFC lightweight bout: Terrance McKinney vs. Damir Hadzovic

UFC lightweight bout: Fares Ziam vs. Mike Davis

UFC flyweight bout: Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Mayra Bueno Silva

UFC featherweight bout: Bogdan Grad vs. Lucas Alexander

UFC heavyweight bout: Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Jamal Pogues

UFC lightweight bout: Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Bolaji Oki