The fifth middleweight main event of 2024 sees Jared Cannonier look to maintain his spot on the periphery of the 185-pound title picture, while Nassourdine Imavov takes aim at the veteran striker’s spot in the top five.
These contenders headline the UFC’s return to Louisville atop a 14-fight card that takes place Saturday and features multiple past title challengers and multiple past winners of The Ultimate Fighter.
Imavov, 29, is coming off a win over Roman Dolidze in February, looking to move up from his No. 7 ranking within the division, and is 11 years Cannonier’s junior.
“I feel like he underestimates me and you know what happens when fighters underestimate their opponent, especially at his age, so that’s something that could go against him,” France’s Imavov told reporters Wednesday through a translator.
Cannonier, who turned 40 in March, has been on quite the run at 185 pounds and is coming off a record-setting performance against Marvin Vettori in his most recent appearance. Cannonier set a new mark for most significant strikes landed in a middleweight bout when he connected 241 times on his ultra-durable Italian opponent.
“If he fights the way we expect him to, it’s going to be a good night for me,” Cannonier, the current No. 4-ranked contender, said of Imavov. “Now, if he goes in there and fights like he’s scared of getting hit and stuff like that, it’s still going to be a bad night for him and a good night for me. If he fights trying to survive, it’s not going to look good, it’s not going to be good for him, so I expect him to come in guns a blazing and that’s going to be perfect. That’s what I want. Somebody that’s going to engage in the fight with me.
“A good dust-up to knock the dust off.”
It has been nearly 12 full months since Cannonier last fought and he is coming off an October MCL tear.
Striking metrics are similar between the two with Cannonier being slightly more aggressive, thanks partly to his two-fight winning streak, but leaves more openings defensively (4.69 significant strikes landed per minute at 52 per cent accuracy, absorbing 4.13 per minute at 59 per cent defence). Imavov (4.53 significant strikes per minute, 54 per cent accuracy, only 3.26 significant strikes absorbed per minute and 61 per cent defence) believes his youth and speed will give him an advantage on the weekend.
Cannonier is 7-2 since dropping to middleweight with his two losses being unanimous decisions to former champ Israel Adesanya in their UFC 276 title fight and to another former champ, Robert Whittaker, at UFC 254. Cannonier also holds wins over past champions Anderson Silva and Sean Strickland; Imavov came up short and lost a five-round decision to Strickland 17 months ago when they met at 205 pounds.
No funny stuff on the scorecards, please!
Coming off a UFC 302 event that had several examples of suspect judging, any fans who remember the UFC’s only other event at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center might be feeling some apprehension heading into the weekend.
That 2011 event took place during a bygone era of the UFC but it was a memorable one. It aired on a now-defunct American TV network, two of the preliminary bouts were streamed on Facebook, it saw the debut of future UFC champion Chris Weidman, plus it was the first UFC event to include a separate 3D broadcast. Seriously!
The main event was a fun three-rounder between welterweights Martin Kampmann and Diego Sanchez that has lived on in infamy due to the scorecards. Sanchez won a split decision despite being outstruck throughout and sustaining far more damage. It remains a notorious judgement with one judge and many fans thinking Kampmann won every round while others felt Sanchez did enough to win two of three.
All that is to say, fingers crossed we can avoid any controversial results this weekend.
Can Reyes finally return to the win column?
We’re approaching five years since Dominick Reyes last won a fight in the UFC. Reyes has a highlight win over Weidman and his KO of Cannonier in 2018 was the reason one half of Saturday’s main event decided to drop down in weight six years ago.
If the 34-year-old can return to form he’ll maintain his spot in the rankings — he’s currently holding onto the 15th and final spot at 205 pounds despite losing four in a row. Three of Reyes’ losses were to UFC champions, two were in actual title fights, and he has a claim to giving Jon Jones a tougher challenge than any other fighter from the past decade.
Reyes last fought in November 2022 when he was knocked out by Ryan Spann in 80 seconds. He’s returning to face talented kickboxer Dustin Jacoby in a pivotal matchup for both men.
Jacoby, 36, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Alonzo Menifield in December and has dropped three of his past four by decision. Jacoby is the betting favourite and if the fight stays standing he could hold a stylistic advantage over Reyes.
UNDERCARD OVERVIEW
Is it make or break time for Katona Canada’s Brad Katona is the biggest betting favourite on Saturday’s card, and the lone two-time TUF winner is facing the pressure of getting back on track following an upset loss to Jesse Armfield at UFC 297 in January. Katona is often a slow starter, which usually isn’t beneficial in three-round bouts.
Rosas Jr. vs. Turcios take two: These 135-pounders were supposed to fight in Mexico City in February with Rosas having the home crowd behind him, however, the bout was cancelled at the last minute after Rosas fell ill and was unable to compete. The teenage phenom is facing the toughest test to date of his pro career when he meets The Ultimate Fighter 29 winner Turcios in bantamweight action. This could be a fun one with plenty of interesting scrambles.
Tomar to make history: Puja Tomar will become the first woman from India to compete in the UFC when she makes her debut in the opening preliminary bout. Tomar, 30, had a handful of fun fights in ONE but didn’t have much success there. She has been rounding out her game the past couple years, and might only be 8-4 as a pro in MMA, but she enters the UFC on a four-fight winning streak and became strawweight champ in the Matrix Fight Night promotion. Tomar’s first UFC opponent is Rayanne dos Santos, a former Invicta FC atomweight titleholder who lost a split decision to Talita Alencar in her organizational debut in December.
Baeza is back: Miguel Baeza has not fought in more than two years and has had three consecutive proposed matchups fall apart. The 31-year-old had a promising start to his UFC career following a win on the Contender Series in 2019, earning three stoppages including a knockout of Matt Brown. Santiago Ponzinibbio, Khaos Williams and Andre Fialho sent him tumbling down the rankings but he is back and ready to welcome Punahele Soriano to the welterweight division. Soriano was a smaller middleweight and is making the cut to 170 pounds for the first time. He has lost four of his last five but said this week he feels great at his new weight.
Full fight card and projected bout order below.
MAIN CARD
— Jared Cannonier vs. Nassourdine Imavov
— Dominick Reyes vs. Dustin Jacoby
— Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Ricky Turcios
— Brunno Ferreira vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
— Julian Marquez vs. Zachary Reece
— Miguel Baeza vs. Punahele Soriano
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Thiago Moisés vs. Ľudovít Klein
— Charles Radtke vs. Carlos Prates
— Andrea Lee vs. Montana De La Rosa
— Brad Katona vs. Jesse Butler
— John Castañeda vs. Daniel Marcos
— Eduarda Moura vs. Denise Gomes
— Cody Stamann vs. Taylor Lapilus
— Rayanne dos Santos vs. Puja Tomar