Scouting Report: Nassourdine Imavov

Nassourdine Imavov

Born: March 1, 1995 (Age: 27) in Dagestan, Russia
Division: Middleweight
Height: 6’3”
Reach: 75”
Record: 12-3 (4-1 UFC)
Association: MMA Factory
Stage of Career: Prime

Summary: Imavov serves as a testament to skill and technique. Lacking either natural punching power or hand speed, he is nevertheless an excellent striker thanks to the fluidity and textbook characteristics of his weapons. No punch or kick is overly impressive, but almost every one of them is solid, giving him a variety of means with which to attack. Beyond this, he has outstanding footwork and sound defense, with the exception of his vulnerability to leg kicks. In terms of grappling, he has above average takedown defense and can wall-walk well. Imavov can wrestle, too, but lacks the top control necessary to make it more of a weapon. He is a calm fighter who waits for opportunities. While his cardio and fight IQ are up to par, they will need to improve if he wants to beat the elite of the division.

STRIKING

• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Average.
• Jab: Technical, straight and powerful but thrown with average speed.
• Cross: Another technical, straight punch, but it lacks some power. He sometimes connects flush without hurting opponents.
• Left Hook: A technical punch with a tight arc and good rotation that he can throw effectively to the head or body. Speed has been an issue. He can throw it faster, but it then becomes sloppier technically, with less rotation, as he fails to turn his fist into it fully. Imavov can be countered when he throws it slower, too.
• Right Hook: Similar properties to the left hook.
• Overhand Right: Throws it with a nice arc and accuracy, but it lacks speed.
• Uppercuts: A technical shot, even without the requisite power.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Normally looks for a punch or two at a time, unless the opponent covers up and shows clear vulnerability.
• Favorite Combination(s): Loves to throw the 1-2, which has proven excellent given the harmonious nature of the two punches.
• Leg Kicks: Fast, sudden and fairly hard.
• Body Kicks: Uses an accurate, technical front kicks to the body. He could benefit from utilizing them more often.
• Head Kicks: Shows solid flexibility and technique, but they lack the speed power to make them truly dangerous.
• Knees: Flashes a nice knee to the body from range. He turns to a flying variant when he aims at the head, as was the case against Ian Heinisch.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.

A fluid striker, Imavov can throw every punch and kick well, but none of them are especially dangerous on their own. Why? They lack power and speed. Still, the ability to choose from so many shots means he can often connect with at least one of them. His jab has improved during his UFC run, and the front kick he first introduced against Heinisch represents a promising change of pace. He also wields a nice knee from range with which he has found some success. Fantastic footwork, with his feet nice and parallel, serves as Imavov’s most impressive feature. He bounces on the balls of his feet and shifts in and out of range. Head movement, his ability to circle and defensive movement are all byproducts of his footwork. However, he struggles to deal with leg kicks—shots he often eats and clearly bother him.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: He does not get bullied as a big middleweight, even by excellent grapplers.
• Technique: Fights well for underhooks and does not give up disadvantageous positions. He can also spin out of the clinch deftly.
• Knees: Surprisingly mediocre. Throws light knees at close range without getting much turn or leverage on them. Even with a Thai plum against an exhausted Phil Hawes, he struggled to land them with desired effect.
• Elbows: Features a nifty and sudden short elbow in close quarters. He turns into the strike and has hurt opponents with it.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Decent, but can be hit with knees to the body due to how he hunches over to prevent takedowns.

A dangerous short elbow serves as perhaps Imavov’s favorite strike in tight spaces. He loves to throw it exiting the clinch or with any separation there. Strangely, his close-range knees lack power due to the fact that he fails to turn his hips into them. Imavov has been vulnerable to knees from his opponents because he tends to hunch over to discourage takedowns.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: He took down Heinisch in a wild scramble, but his shot was fairly slow. His back was at 90 degrees against Jordan Williams, who stuffed his bid for a takedown.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Easily sucked Williams’ hips out against the cage for a takedown. He completed another double-leg on Williams along the fence, even though he was badly hurt at the time.
• Takedown Defense: He neatly stuffed an attempted double-leg from Heinisch and denied Williams without issue. Imavov was taken down by Hawes—a junior college national champion—but two of the takedowns resulted from close-range double legs after he misfired on his short elbow. Only one of the takedowns was completed with no setup, though it was lightning-quick.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Wall walks quite well, but he lacks hip escapes.
• Submissions: Limited at his current level. He can attack with guillotines and anaconda chokes, but he does not profile as someone who will put people away with them inside the Octagon.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Works for kimuras to try to get up, which sometimes leaves him open to punches and, paradoxically, can keep him pined on the bottom. Throws a stiff elbow from his back, having scored with it against Hawes.
• Top Control: Fails to corral the wrists or hips.
• Ground-and-Pound: Utilizes hard punches and incorporates his body well, especially from the right side. Also throws a quality hammerfist.

Imavov has some wrestling ability, but he rarely takes advantage of it due to his lack of effective top control. However, when opponents are tired enough that they are confined to the bottom, as was the case against Williams and Edmen Shahbazyan, he can unleash potent ground-and-pound, including a steady diet of hard punches and hammerfists. It takes an excellent wrestler to take him down and an even better grappler to keep him there because of his ability to wall walk. Those who do succeed in this area can score with ground-and-pound; and Imavov has not proven to be much of a submission threat.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: A large middleweight with solid power, he seems to lack some dynamism, which would enhance his punching power, hand speed and the ability to utilize techniques like hip escapes.
• Cardio: Fights energetically and moves well for the first two rounds. However, he starts to look winded at times in the third and can become downright gassed in more frenetic encounters. Imavov could be seen leaning over with his hands on his knees against Williams.
• Chin: While he has been hurt by strikes that land flush, he has never been knocked down.
• Recuperative Powers: Rebounds quickly when he gets in trouble.
• Intelligence: A calm and patient fighter who takes advantage of opportunities, he has shown steady fight-to-fight improvement. However, he has shown a tendency to make costly, unnecessary mistakes. For example, he fired off the same short elbow against Hawes in the second round that led to his being takedown in the first. Then, he held onto a kimura that was not there to be finished, locking himself into bottom position after almost returning to his feet. Those miscues likely cost him in a bout he would have otherwise won.