All eyes are on a UFC title shot for Nassourdine Imavov, but he hasn’t forgotten about Sean Strickland.
Imavov (17-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) called out Strickland (30-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) after the former middleweight champion finished Anthony Hernandez in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 267 headliner in Houston. Strickland thinks he’s done enough to leapfrog Imavov for a shot at UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev, but Imavov believes otherwise.
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So why then did Imavov call out Strickland?
“Of course, Khamzat is a big challenge,” Imavov told MMA Fighting. “He knows, we know, and the UFC knows that I’m able to go to this fight, and I’m willing to go to this fight whatever happens because what I’ve been saying for a while is the only thing I’m focusing on is the belt, not the owner of the belt. And that’s not since Khamzat get this belt that I said that, but I said that way before, because that’s the only thing that matters at the end of the day, is the belt around my waist.
“If the UFC call me tomorrow with the hate I have in my heart, of course it will be Sean Strickland, and then I can fight Khamzat or whatever. But what I have in my heart right now is to erase this defeat, this loss I had a few years ago, and beat this guy because I hate him. I don’t like the way he speaks. I don’t like the way he thinks. I don’t like the way he speaks about my people. So like I said, and even in terms of fighting, like I can tell you guys, both of those fights will be world wars. Both of those fights will be crazy, but the one with Sean, I will leave him dead inside the cage.”
Since losing to Strickland in a light heavyweight bout in January 2023, Imavov has gone unbeaten. His three most recent wins have come against Brendan Allen, ex-champ Israel Adesanya and Caio Borralho.
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“About Strickland, it was a proposal,” Imavov said. “It was a proposal because, guys, something you need to understand is (for) two years, I’m asking the UFC for this guy. I don’t want to make excuses or whatever about light heavyweight, about short notice and everything, because when I left this fight, I was so disappointed that I said something simple is that I will show people with my fist where I belong. And then you saw all the path between my fight against Sean Strickland.”
Imavov is irked by the bigoted comments Strickland has made toward Muslims, especially when referring to a potential title fight between Chimaev and Imavov. The 30-year-old Russian-French fighter vows to make him pay if he gets his chance at a rematch.
“Also why I made this proposal, because it can be a big, big, big, big fight,” Imavov said. “It can be a big fight in the buildup because I don’t speak so much, but this guy, I really hate him. So it will be fireworks outside of the cage. It will be this guy, if I meet him like for the weigh-in or whatever, we can fight. If I see him in the street, I can fight him. I can brawl him.
“And in the cage, it will be world war, and he will finish with a lot of blood and unconscious. That’s what I can tell you is that you can’t expect a bigger fight at middleweight right now than this fight, because it will be two strikers going at war, and one will finish unconscious. That’s what I’m telling you.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Nassourdine Imavov will leave Sean Strickland ‘dead inside the cage’
