Reinier de Ridder was perhaps one victory away from a 185-pound title shot against Khamzat Chimaev.
All “The Dutch Knight” needed was a victory over fellow middleweight contender Brendan Allen in the UFC
Vancouver main event earlier this month in Canada. Instead, De Ridder was beaten up and forced to quit on the stool after four rounds of abuse.
That pretty much clears the way for No. 2-ranked
Nassourdine Imavov.“I’m the only contender in this division,” Imavov told MMA Junkie through an interpreter. “I proved it. About RDR against Allen, I knew Allen would win, and I even bet with my manager for jokes because he was thinking RDR would win, and I told him media are doing a ton of things on him, and he’s overrated.”
Imavov defeated Allen at UFC Paris last fall.
“He doesn’t have the level that people think he has, and that’s what Allen showed,” Imavov continued. “I knew he was overrated because his fighting style, all the holes he has in his game. The mainstream public can’t see it, but me, as a professional fighter, I see all those holes, and I knew that when he fights the right opposition, he will lose. I faced Allen before, so I knew from my perspective, Allen would be better than him.”
But Allen wasn’t better than this injured contender.
The promotion has yet to make any sort of decision on what’s next for Chimaev, who captured the crown with a five-round drubbing over Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 earlier this year in Chicago. Don’t be surprised to see “Borz” resurface for one of the upcoming Paramount+ cards, or even UFC White House.
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