Rising middleweight contenders will square off in Paris.
Joaquin Buckley (15-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) meets Nassourdine Imavov (11-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on Sept. 3 at Accor Arena, promotion officials announced Wednesday.
La Sueur was first to report the news.
Middleweight clash coming to #UFCParis 🇫🇷@Imavov1 vs @Newmansa94 is signed! pic.twitter.com/MOXQomRrqe
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) July 6, 2022
Winner of five of his past six, Buckley is coming off a Performance of the Night stoppage win over Albert Duraev at UFC on ESPN 37 in June. Four of his wins in that stretch came by knockout, including the viral spinning back kick of Impa Kasanganay.
After losing a majority decision to Phil Hawes in his UFC debut, Imavov rebounded with back-to-back second-round finishes of Ian Heinisch and Edmen Shahbazyan. Training partner of Ciryl Gane at MMA Factory Paris, the 27-year-old has won eight of his past nine fights.
With the change, the UFC Paris lineup includes:
- Ciryl Gane vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Marvin Vettori vs. Robert Whittaker
- Jessica Andrade vs. Manon Fiorot
- Absupiyan Magomedov vs. Makhmud Muradov
- Zarah Fairn vs. Ailin Perez
- Alessio Di Chirico vs. Roman Kopylov
- Nasrat Haqparast vs. John Makdessi
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Nassourdine Imavov
