Imavov beats Dolidze with funky scorecards, calls for Strickland rematch

Dominant rounds, illegal strikes, point deductions, a bit of corner chaos and some funky scorecards.

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event was eventful to say the least and concluded with Nassourdine Imavov emerging with a five-round majority decision win over Roman Dolidze.

The two middleweight contenders were looking for a statement finish to send a message to the wide-open 185-pound division, and Imavov nearly did just that in the opening round. The 28-year-old Dagestan-born Frenchman, who went winless in two bouts in 2023, took control when he hit Dolidze with a piston right hand and a left knee to the body that sucked the air out of the Georgian.

Imavov began inflicting heavy ground punches as Dolidze attempted to recover. By the end of the opening round, Imavov had landed 69 strikes compared to only eight for Dolidze, who survived the round but stumbled back to his corner with his face marked up. 

The pace slowed in the second round after Imavov expelled loads of energy trying to finish his opponent. Dolidze began initiating the clinch to get back in the fight and wear on Imavov, who found continued success with his right hand in the third round and peppered Dolidze’s midsection with prodding kicks and timely knees.

The fourth round is where the headline bout nearly devolved into chaos when Imavov kicked Dolidze in the face while Dolidze had a hand planted on the canvas, clearly making him a downed opponent. 

Imavov was deducted a point for the blatant foul — a puzzling decision in the moment that was somewhat reminiscent of when Petr Yan paused before he hit Aljamain Sterling with an illegal knee that cost him his bantamweight title back at UFC 273.

Dolidze took several minutes to recover and during the break in action, Imavov nearly got into an altercation with Dolidze’s corner.

Ranked UFC middleweight contender Chris Curtis was among Dolidze’s Xtreme Couture cornermen. He and Imavov fought to a no-contest last summer at UFC 289 after a clash of heads resulted in Curtis sustaining a cut. Imavov also fought Xtreme Couture’s Sean Strickland early in 2023, so some clear heat has developed between the two camps and it was on display at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Imavov lost a short-notice five-round decision to Strickland 13 months ago in a UFC Apex main event and said after his win over Dolidze he wants a rematch with the now-former champion, who lost his belt to Dricus Du Plessis two weeks ago at UFC 297.

A rematch between Strickland and Imavov would be interesting on many levels. Their first fight was on short notice, took place up a weight class due to the limited time to prepare, and Imavov has since fought two of Strickalnd’s teammates. Curtis is usually in Strickland’s corner when he fights, so there’s that too.

Curtis followed up by adding: “Roman is doing well. Tough fight but thems the breaks. Rest, recovery and on to the next one.”

Dolidze has now lost two fights in a row and goes back to the drawing board after absorbing 71 significant head strikes and landing only 14 of his own.

No two scorecards were identical after 25 minutes had elapsed.

A 10-9 Imavov Round 3 and a 10-9 Imavov Round 5 were the only rounds on which all three judges agreed. One judge had Imavov winning four rounds, and the other two had him winning three rounds -- one judge scored the fourth round 10-8 Dolidze after the point deduction -- resulting in a rare 49-44, 48-46, 47-47 majority decision.

Ultimately there was no controversy around who was the rightful winner, although that fourth-round foul was undoubtedly one of the most impactful moments of the bout.

The co-main event lived up to the hype as lightweights Renato Moicano and Drew Dober went back and forth for 15 bloody minutes with Moicano winning a unanimous decision.

Dober had early success with his power punches before black belt Moicano implemented his Brazilian jiu-jitsu and took Dober to the ground where he controlled him effectively and worked for submissions.

The southpaw Dober turned the tables in the second after reversing position and hitting a beautiful lateral drop to throw Moicano to the mat. Moicano took advantage of a tactical error from Dober in the third when he was looking to disengage from a clinch, and the Brazilian ended up in top position where he worked from Dober’s guard and half guard until the end of the round.

Moicano secured three of his six takedown attempts and, more importantly, racked up 10:33 of ground control.

In other main card action, Randy Brown hadn’t won a fight via strikes in nearly five years, but he found Muslim Salikhov’s chin with a clean right hand in the first round of their welterweight scrap.

Brown took advantage of his immense reach, found his range and, after eating numerous hard low kicks, he found space for a one-two that sent Salikhov’s limp body to the canvas.

Natalia Silva celebrated her 27th birthday in style by continuing her ascension up the women’s 125-pound rankings. The rising flyweight talent picked up a unanimous decision victory over Viviane Araujo to improve to 5-0 in the UFC and extend her current winning streak to 11.

A middleweight contest between Aliaskhab Khizriev and Makhmud Muradov only lasted 11 seconds, however it wasn’t stopped due to a highlight-reel finish. It was ruled a no-contest after Khizriev inadvertently dug one of his fingers into Muradov’s left eye as he extended his arms. Muradov’s eye quickly swelled shut and the cage-side physician confirmed Muradov was unable to continue.

Saturday’s 13-fight event at the UFC Apex was the organization’s 92nd from the venue since 2020.

You could see a weight lifted off “Meatball” Molly McCann’s shoulders when she forced a tap from opponent Diana Belbita in the featured preliminary bout. Belbita yelped as she succumbed to an armbar with one second left in the opening round, clearly in pain from the armbar.

McCann was coming off two consecutive submission losses and has been working incessantly on improving her grappling, so you could see her delight when she picked up the first submission win of her career.

This was McCann’s debut at 115 pounds and her second career win over Belbita. McCann won a unanimous decision when the two fought at 125 pounds in 2019.

In other preliminary action, Themba Gorimbo turned in a potentially star-making performance when he connected on a cracking right hand that sent Pete Rodriguez to the canvas in the opening minute of their welterweight contest. Gorimbo is a skilled grappler who showed he also has punching power his opponents need to be aware of. 

Gorimbo’s journey to get to the UFC is an inspiring story and along the way, he developed a friendship with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The 33-year-old thanked the WWE and Hollywood superstar after his latest win, his second in a row in the UFC.

You can add Julija Stoliarenko’s name to the growing list of frustrated fighters who lost after accepting a fight with an opponent who missed weight by multiple pounds. Stoliarenko lost by technical knockout to Luana Carolina in a preliminary bout contested at a catchweight of 128 pounds after Carolina missed weight on Friday. Carolina initially weighed in three pounds above the non-title limit of 126 pounds.

Stoliarenko requested Carolina lose an additional pound before accepting the fight. The Brazilian was given an extra hour, and she successfully got down to 128 pounds. Carolina was fined 20 per cent of her purse, but the fact she picked up her win bonus makes her fine more palatable.

Carolina defended multiple submission attempts in the third round, with Stoliarenko aggressively pursuing a triangle and an armbar from the bottom before Carolina escaped and finished an exhausted Stoliarenko with ground-and-pound strikes.