Israel Adesanya is set to compete in his first non-title fight in six years.
Adesanya is a former two-time UFC middleweight champion, having defended the 185 lb strap a whopping seven times.
He faces Nassourdine Imavov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 1, 2025, following consecutive losses in title fights this year.
Interestingly, as well as it being his first non-title fight in six years, the bout will be Adesanya’s first fight on a non-pay-per-view card since 2018.
Adesanya has competed in 14 successive UFC PPV cards over the past six years.
But his fight with France’s ‘The Sniper’ Imavov is part of a UFC Fight Night card, and also features Shara Magomedov facing London’s Michael Page in the co-main event.
“I still get paid,” Adesanya said, when pressed on if it feels strange to find himself on a Fight Night card.
“There’s still a referee, it’s two of us in there, there’s a crowd.
“It’s not like in the f***ing Apex or something, so it doesn’t feel any different.
“I think people are making it out to be something how they would react to it, but they’re not in my shoes. They’re not in my shorts. It’s different.”
Adesanya contended for two-division championship status just three years ago after moving up to light heavyweight to fight Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.
Although he lost the bout after five rounds via unanimous-decision, ‘The Last Stylebender’ put up a strong showing, and proceeded to cement his name as the middleweight king in his following three bouts.
Current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira then arrived on the scene and disrupted the path of the Nigerian-born New Zealander.
The 35-year-old dropped his middleweight belt for the first time in November 2022 to Pereira in his seventh defence of the title.
He won the subsequent rematch at UFC 287 by knocking the Brazilian out in round two, before shockingly losing the first defence of his new reign to Sean Strickland.
Adesanya was then submitted at UFC 305 in August by Dricus Du Plessis, who beat Strickland for the belt and rematches him in Australia for UFC 312 next year.
“It’s a Saudi Arabia Fight Night, first of all,” Adesanya added.
“I still get paid. It still feels like you’re fighting Israel Adesanya. This is the biggest fight of his life.
“I have to be the one to halt that. It still feels the same. It doesn’t feel any different. Like I said, people who don’t do what I do – they’re the ones that are [saying that] because of their ego.”
Adesanya’s first title fight in Dana White’s promotion took place five years ago at UFC 236.
He battled Kelvin Gastelum for the interim middleweight belt in Atlanta, George, on the same card Dustin Poirier beat Max Holloway for the second time.
That bout was Adesanya’s fourth on a UFC PPV card since making his debut in 2018 at UFC 221.
His next, against Imavov, will be his first fight on a non-PPV card since he took on Brad Tavarez at The Ultimate Fight 27 Finale in July 2018.
Adesanya’s 2019 bout against Robert Whittaker—which was his first-ever title fight—holds a special place in UFC history.
The fight, which took place in Melbourne, Australia, recorded the highest-ever attendance at a UFC card to date.
The pair battled it out in an all-Oceanic region title fight at UFC 243 in front of 57,127 fans as Adesnaya knocked out Whittaker in round two to unify the middleweight titles and become champion.