It may not have been the performance to earn him a title shot, but Nassourdine Imavov put on a fairly dominant showing in front of his home crowd, defeating Caio Borralho in the main event of UFC Paris.
Though the opening round was slow, Imavov pushed the pace on Borralho, overwhelming him early. Borralho, however, would end up with more output than the French fighter by the first round's end. Imavov continued to work Borralho over with jabs and countershots during the second round, while Borralho had some moments -- but definitely not the production we've been used to seeing from the Brazilian.
Borralho finally seemed to get into the fight during the third round, landing more shots and doing damage with them. Notably, however, Imavov had stopped all four takedown attempts from Borralho by this point. Imavov then completely outworked Borralho in the fourth round to put him on the ropes.
Imavov then dominated the fifth round to nearly sweep the judges' scorecards and score the victory.
Nassourdine Imavov Dominates Caio Borralho In Potential Title Eliminator At UFC Paris
Imavov has now won five straight and he has won eight of his last 10 outings.
This marked Borralho's first loss since his second professional MMA bout.
Whether Imavov receives a title opportunity or not may boil down to the performances of Anthony Hernandez and Reinier de Ridder when they face off in the main event of UFC Vancouver next month.