Michael Bisping predicts Israel Adesanya will beat Nassourdine Imavov for one key reason
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Former UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping, now a color analyst for the promotion, weighed-in on the UFC Saudi Arabia main event between Israel Adesanya and Nassourdine Imavov this Saturday.
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Adesanya, the two-time UFC middleweight champion, has been on a downward spiral since losing his belt to now-former champion Sean Strickland.
He returned to the Octagon last August to settle his differences against current champion Dricus Du Plessis. However, the fight didn't go Adesanya's way, as he lost via fourth-round rear-naked choke in an attempt to regain the belt.
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Having lost two straight and three of his last four, the other coming in April 2023 against former UFC middleweight-turned-Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira, Bisping told his YouTube audience that this fight is a must-win for Adesanya to stay relevant within the division's Top 10, much less the Top 5.
"Israel Adesanya, the former middleweight champion of the world who has lost three out of his last four fights," Bisping said. "That's a far cry from when Israel Adesanya was on top of the world."
Bisping Breaks Down Adesanya vs. Imavov
Bisping said one error in the Du Plessis loss ultimately cost Adesanya a chance at redemption. Against Imavov, who has four submission wins in MMA thus far, Adesanya can't afford to play into his opponent's finishing strengths.
"His losses are to (champion) Dricus Du Plessis, where he was taken down and choked out in Round 4," Bisping said. "The relevance of that, though, is that's how he made a career, sprawling and brawling, stopping the takedown. If he was taken down, bouncing right back up. So the question is, is he starting to slip, or is Dricus Du Plessis just that good?"
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Whatever the case, Bisping concluded that the Imavov fight should be viewed as a gut-check opportunity for Adesanya to prove he is still a worthy contender.
"Before that [Du Plessis loss], it was a loss to Sean Strickland," Bisping said. "Maybe he underestimated Sean. He didn't realize how good of an opponent he was. Maybe Sean Strickland got in his head. Maybe Israel was distracted. The other loss was to Alex Pereira. Certainly, no shame in losing to any of them, but when you're the best in the world, when you're the champion, when you're No. 1 - okay, it starts to paint a picture."
Adesanya vs. Imavov concludes an 11-fight card, with the prelims starting at 9 a.m. ET followed by the main card at noon ET. In the U.S., it streams exclusively on ESPN+, beginning a stretch of 11 consecutive cards during Q1 for the UFC.
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