Israel Adesanya’s striking coach has pinpointed the crucial mistake that cost him his fight against Nassourdine Imavov.
“The Last Stylebender” found himself overwhelmed by Imavov’s relentless assault, ultimately succumbing to a knockout loss in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia last Saturday at anb Arena in Riyadh.
The momentum shifted early in the second round when Adesanya protested an eye poke but chose not to take a timeout. Before he could properly reset, Imavov capitalized, landing a devastating right hand. Seconds later, a barrage of ground-and-pound forced the referee to step in and stop the fight.
OVER IN AN INSTANT
@Imavov1 wins by Round 2 TKO at #UFCSaudiArabia!
[ @RiyadhSeason | #RiyadhSeason ] pic.twitter.com/pHEhFFNqSl
— UFC (@ufc) February 1, 2025
During a recent interview with Submission Radio, Adesanya’s striking coach, Mike Angove, praised Imavov for executing a thoughtful game plan and capitalizing on the moment to claim the victory.
He also highlighted that the former UFC middleweight champion’s decision to forgo the timeout after the eye poke prevented him from resetting, which eventually led to the knockout.
“The name of the game, particularly in small gloves: You can’t make mistakes,” Angove said. “We made a mistake. Nassourdine, I would say, with his team, recognized when we made that mistake and they jumped on it – which means they have to have planned. So you’ve got to congratulate them for that. Izzy got poked in the eye. There was a break. Izzy didn’t want to take the break – was just keen on getting on with it. But in doing that, he didn’t reset as you normally would and create some space.
“That means you’re still in the firing zone, and then you want him to keep the pressure on. It’s just one of those things. It just happens. He felt he was doing well in the fight and wanted to keep that pressure on, and Nassourdine caught him switching – beautiful right hand that resonated around the stadium and he couldn’t recover from that. It was right on the button, and then he followed up with a left hook against the cage and the referee came and stopped it.”
Adesanya’s reign as the 185-pound champion came to an end when he lost to Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in September 2023. He then suffered another setback in his attempt to regain the title, falling short against the reigning champion, Dricus Du Plessis, at UFC 305 this past August