Nassourdine Imavov defeated Roman Dolidze at UFC Fight Night 235 this weekend. However, his success didn’t come without controversy after he made a foul move against Dolidze. Chris Curtis, Imavov’s former opponent, protested the move, leading to a heated moment between the two and expectations about a possible rematch. Imavov, however, says no to the idea.
Imavov and Dolidze served as the main event of UFC Fight Night 235 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The match between the two was full of action, but the main highlight of the fight was in Round 4 when Imavov made a foul attack against the Dolidze, whom he kicked in the head despite being grounded. The action led to a point deduction on Imavov, but the fighter still managed to end up as the victor of the fight via majority decision (49-44, 47-47, 48-46).
Imavov charged toward's Dolidze's corner 😳 pic.twitter.com/YcirQ5lMiw
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 4, 2024
Needless to say, Dolidze’s side didn’t like what happened. That includes Curtis, who served as a cornerman to Dolidze. After the kick, Curtis expressed his disapproval of Imavov’s move, and the fighter inside the cage responded, leading to an argument. Imavov approached the side of Dolidze, where Curtis was seated, but Referee Herb Dean intervened. After the announcement of the result, Curtis was seen flipping Imavov off.
Imavov and Curtis fought last June, but their fight ended with a No Contest status after an accidental headbutt. The beef between the two then started, and the recent incident added fuel to the fire. With this, talks about a rematch between the two began, but Imavov turned it down, saying Sean Strickland, who defeated him in January 2023, would be his next target.
Despite this, Imavov said that he wouldn’t say no to an unofficial brawl against Curtis. For the fighter, he would accept a sparring match, where he could “destroy” him.
“I was upset because the guy, Chris Curtis, kept talking in every fight he’s cornering,” Imavov said. “He keeps talking to me. This is not his job as a cornerman to talk to the fight. When I went into the cage against him, it was very silent. He got dominated, and he even quit the fight because of the head butt. I just want him to stop talking and let me fight.
“… Roman is a real warrior. He kept fighting even though he could’ve stopped fighting. I have a lot of respect. Thank you so much, Roman, for that – as opposed to his cornerman, who is a quitter, like Chris Curtis.
“I’m not at all interested by Chris Curtis. First of all, he’s so low on the rankings. Second of all, I did a masterclass against him. I just dominated him. He couldn’t do anything in the cage. But if he really wants to keep talking, I can go to his place, his gym, and we can do a real tough sparring session. I’m going to destroy him as I did in the cage.”
