Nassurdin Imavov was born in Khasavyurt and at the age of 10 moved to the suburbs of Marseilles with his family. Now the fighter is 27 years old, the stats in MMA are 12-3. The move was the father’s decision, the father is in business. To the question “what if it was not a secret?” Imavov responds “secret”. In France, Imavov and his brother started boxing, then switched to mixed martial arts and ended up in one of the most interesting gyms in Europe, Fernand Lopez’s MMA Factory. It turns out that two elite heavyweights started training with Lopez as newcomers to both: Francis Ngannou and Cyril Gun. The level of each was such that in 2022 they had a fight for the UFC heavyweight title. Ngannou, who shortly before irretrievably ruined relations with the coach and moved to Las Vegas, won and retained the title. Somewhere in 2016, Imavov was already at the gym when Ngannou came to train there. Very powerful, but very rudimentary in terms of technology.
From now on, Nassurdin himself will lead the UFC tournament. The first in 2023. His opponent was supposed to be Kelvin Gastelum, but the middleweight was injured and dropped out. A replacement was found very quickly – Sean Strickland was called in, setting the condition that it would not be necessary to adjust the weight up to 84 kg. The fighters will fight in the light heavyweight category (up to 93 kg).
– How does a person who doesn’t need to make weight during fight week feel?
– The person feels good. The energy is there, you can eat whatever you want. I recently ate ice cream, it went well.
Do you start thinking about times like these that weight runs are easier to cancel altogether? In fact, you and Sean Strickland are about the same height, and if you fought regularly, you’d both be struggling to lose weight right now, even though you’d still be the same fighters.
– Of course, I would like all that to change, because exhausting the body in this way is too much. It’s true that I don’t drive much. I usually weigh 89-90 kg and have no problem reaching 84 kg. I don’t do saunas or anything like that. Before, I usually raced in 77 kg, but it was difficult to drive there.
– With what weight did you fly in America?
– Arrived 88 kg. Our category is now at 93 kg, but at the weigh-in I will not even be 89 kg.
Your fight was compromised as your opponent Kelvin Gastellum was injured and replaced by Sean Strickland. How many hours did it take for you between the news of the cancellation and the fact that you found a replacement opponent?
– Quite fast. A maximum of two hours passed, and they told me that the opponent was being changed.
– On the one hand, you have to beat Sean Strickland hard, on the other hand, is there such a thing that you are grateful to him, because after all, he saved your performance?
“Yes, of course, of course. I almost didn’t stay without a fight, I was on edge for those two hours. When they said Strickland would take the fight, I was very happy. Thanks to him. But on the day of the fight, we will leave him. And after the fight, I will thank him again.
– If you were offered to replace a top 15 light heavyweight fighter (up to 93 kg), for example Jan Blachowicz, would you agree?
– I accepted anyone, I immediately told Fernando [Лопесу]that he is ready to fight with anyone, even if he weighs 95-100 kg. I want to fight. For me, this is the first main event, and I was ready for any opponent.
So you would fight a light heavyweight?
– Oh, sure.
– Your coach Fernand Lopez loves to study his opponents in detail – how many Strickland fights has he managed to watch and what has he told you about him?
– I don’t know how many fights, but he already spent 10 hours watching his fights, we already talked about the game plan, everything is fine.
– What kind of fighter seemed to you Sean Strickland before this fight?
– What? While I did not understand how he manages to win. Visually, when you’re looking, and there’s no show, and like it does the same thing. But the style is somehow uncomfortable, somehow it interferes with rivals.
– Who in your hall could be like him?
– It’s hard to find. He is uncomfortable. You look at his boxing – like he’s been boxing for several months. Beginner. But it’s really hard for him. We don’t have many in the room.
– In one of the podcasts you said that you live in a 7 square meter apartment. Has he changed now?
– It ended a long time ago, even before I entered the UFC. I usually rent a house now, but even then it wasn’t too bad. We just wanted to have a roof over our heads. And exercise every day. And everything was perfect in this apartment: a roof over our heads, walking 10 meters to the hall, we spent the whole day in the hall. Before that, we lived in Marseille with my parents. And there we had everything: work for me and my brother. But we wanted to get out of that comfort and pursue our dream. Of course, now I wouldn’t want to go back, it would be hard, but at that time I didn’t even feel it.
Have conditions improved now?
– Now there is a bit of comfort, yes, but I still try not to get used to it. Now I have a house, a territory near the house, I can do home workouts.
– Is it a lease?
– Oh, sure.
– There was a famous story when two of your former teammates: Cyril Gan and Francis Ngannou had a fight and Ngannou walked past Cyril, his coach and you and didn’t even say hello to you. How much did that surprise you?
“It didn’t surprise me. Made me laugh. I expected him to go like this: Cyril is his rival, they had a little misunderstanding with Fernand. And when I saw him from a distance, I noticed he wasn’t looking at us, I realized he would pass by, without even saying hello. At the time, it was a bit funny.
– Did you fight him a lot?
No, they were boxing.
– Is it difficult to fight with Ngannou?
– You had to be careful when you were boxing with him. It couldn’t be wrong. Although he controlled his blows, it was better not to get hit by them. The punches are powerful and I remember when he hit uppercuts I felt what kind of wind his punches were when they weren’t hitting me. And I remember how I felt that wind and I thought it best not to let it hit me.
How do you think his return will be?
– Hard to say. If he comes back, maybe they’ll fight Jon Jones.
– Do you have his number? In theory, you could call him now?
– No, there is no contact.
There are several culinary stereotypes about France, let’s compare them. Do you eat croissants for breakfast?
I like croissants with coffee in the morning. Sometimes I order, sometimes I go to a cafe. It is delicious.
– You don’t drink wine?
– Not.
– You are a Dagestani, but you have been living in France for a long time, what did you eat of that later: khinkal or frog legs.
Khinkal, of course. Mom’s house. My parents live near Marseille. When there is a lot of time before the fight, I will see. My mother cooks khinkal deliciously, I can eat some of my father’s specialties. He also cooks well.
Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
