The UFC will stage its fourth event in France this Saturday, returning to the Accor Arena with a middleweight main event.
The county of France has established itself as one of the most prominent audiences in combat sports, with a focus on UFC events dating back to 2022 and WWE events, including three consecutive nights last weekend.
Saturday’s Fight Night will see middleweights Nassourdine Imavov (16-4, 1 NC) and Caio Borralho (17-1, 1 NC) meet in the five-round main event, and the winner will position themselves as a potential championship contender.
The Russian-born Imavov, 30, actually made his pro debut in Paris nearly a decade ago and was submitted in the opening round. He rebounded from the loss to go 8-1 before signing with the UFC and entering the Octagon during the pandemic in October 2020, where he found a home at middleweight.
After earning wins against Ian Heinisch, Edmen Shahbazyan, and Joaquin Buckley, he was a victim of circumstances and moved up a weight class for his next fight. Imavov was set for a contest with middleweight Kelvin Gastelum, but after a removal due to injury, Sean Strickland stepped in. The late notice required the fight to occur at 205 pounds, and Imavov lost by decision to the future middleweight champion.
Since then, Imavov has been stellar with four wins, along with a no-contest due to a clash of heads with Chris Curtis. His 2024 campaign saw impressive victories against Roman Dolidze, Jarred Cannonier, and Brendan Allen before capping up his streak this past February by stopping former 185-pound champion, Israel Adesanya.
Imavov’s #2 ranking suggests that Borralho could be his bridge toward fighting Khamzat Chimaev for the championship, with the outcome of Alexander Hernandez vs. Reinier De Ridder on October 18 playing a potential spoiler for Imavov.
Borralho, 32, of the Fighting Nerds super gym, is hardly a pushover and will require Imavov to hand the fighter his first loss in more than ten years to move ahead.
Borralho’s lone blemish on his resume was sustained in his second pro fight – at welterweight – losing by decision to Joao Carvalho in Brazil. He moved up to middleweight seven years ago and found his home in the division and used back-to-back wins on Dana White’s Contender Series within three weeks to punch his ticket to a contract.
His 7-0 record in the UFC has been highlighted by Performance of the Night bonuses for his stoppages of Michal Oleksiejczuk and Paul Craig, and he is coming off the winning end of a Fight of the Night with Jared Cannonier last August in his first UFC main event.
While he’s ranked seventh in the division, a win using style points over a fighter of the quality of Imavov could jettison Borralho into contender status.
In the co-feature, Benoît Saint Denis (14-3, 1 NC) faces Maurício Ruffy in an intriguing lightweight contest involving fighters with high finishing rates.
Saint Denis suffered back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano last year but returned to the win column at UFC 310 this past May by submitting Kyle Prepolec.
Ruffy has only gone the distance once in his thirteen pro fights and has had his arm raised in his three UFC outings. His most impressive victory was his last win, stunning Bobby “King” Green with a spinning wheel kick and knocking out the veteran in the opening round of their fight this past March.
Friday’s weigh-ins saw one subtraction from the card as Losene Keita missed the featherweight limit by three pounds, and his fight with Patricio “Pitbull” Freire was canceled.
The afternoon card will stream on ESPN+.
MAIN CARD (3 p.m. ET)
*Nassourdine Imavov (16-4, 1 NC) vs. Caio Borralho (17-1, 1 NC)
*Benoît Saint Denis (14-3) vs. Maurício Ruffy (12-1)
*Paul Craig (17-9-1) vs. Modestas Bukauskas (18-6)
*Bolaji Oki (10-2) vs. Mason Jones (16-2)
*Axel Sola (10-0-1) vs. Rhys McKee (14-6-1)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Noon ET)
*Robert Ruchala (11-1) vs. William Gomis (14-3)
*Oumar Sy (11-1) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (17-8)
*Ante Delija (25-6) vs. Marcin Tybura (27-9)
*Harry Hardwick (13-3-1) vs. Kauê Fernandes (10-2)
*Trey Waters (9-1) vs. Sam Patterson (13-2-1)
*Brad Tavares (21-10) vs. Robert Bryczek (17-6)
*Andreas Gustafsson (12-2) vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov (24-2-1)
*Shauna Bannon (7-1) vs. Sam Hughes (10-6)
