One of the fights that the entire fighting realm has been looking forward to right now is indeed the one between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight championship title. After the Chechen Wolf demolished Robert Whittaker’s mandible at UFC 308, ‘Still Knocks’ knew that he wanted to fight ‘Borz.’ However, the #3 middleweight contender has a cloud of uncertainty shrouding him. Well, he is riddled with multiple pullouts in the past. 

But to make sure that the main event for UFC 319 doesn’t lie vacant, Dana White announced Nassourdine Imavov as the backup fighter for the event. This indeed got a reaction from the middleweight champion. Trolling Chimaev’s troubled past with sickness and pullouts, Du Plessis claimed, “Guess I’m fighting Nassourdine Imavov now.” But with around 3 months left to the bout, the backup fighter put Chimaev, White, and Du Plessis on high alert. 

Recently, the French middleweight contender had a brief interaction with his fans on Instagram, where he responded to their questions in his Instagram Story. That’s when one of the fans asked Imavov if he planned to fight in UFC Paris. Yes, you heard it right! The UFC is going to land in Paris on 6th September 2025. But is ‘The Sniper’ really interested in fighting there? And if he was, who did he wish to compete against? 

The idea resonated well with Imavov. Responding to the fight fan, he wrote, “I don’t intend to sit on my #1 ranking. I’m preparing for the backup spot on August 16th… If no one pulls out, we’ll call someone out for Paris. That’s the deal with the UFC!” Yep, that was another subtle jibe at Chimaev’s troubled past. But let’s say that everything went right on August 16. Who will Imavov fight in Paris, then? 

Not too long ago, the French mixed martial artist expressed his desire to take on the Chechen Wolf. Let’s take a look at that for a moment, shall we? After all, even the UFC head honcho seemed to have favored that bout. 

Will Nassourdine Imavov fight Khamzat Chimaev next?

Just like every single contender, Imavov dreamed of becoming the champion. But while he never really refused a fight, a match against Chimaev seemed lucrative for him. Before his bout against Israel Adesanya, Imavov said, “Of course, depending on the performance, I can get the next title shot. It can be Khamzat. The fact that I went for four fights in one year, two top five and two top 10, that’s something very significant.”

He continued how he was never backing away from any fixtures by saying, “I’m never turning down any fights, and that’s something the UFC likes a lot. So we’ll see what happens. For now, I’m focusing on my next fight, and we’ll see after that.” This was further backed by the UFC head honcho. Following Imavov’s victory against ‘The Last Stylebender’, White told the media at the press conference, “Imavov just got into a fight. I don’t know yet what is in store for him and what we will do with him in the future. But we have a lot of options. And yes, his fight with Chimaev is one of the scenarios.”

However, things might not happen as we expected. The only way we can see Imavov fighting Chimaev is if ‘Borz’ pulls out of UFC 319. That way, Imavov would have to fight for the title and, later on, compete against Chimaev. Of course, this also means that the duo wouldn’t fight at UFC Paris. Needless to say, it’s a great dilemma for the UFC CEO.

But we can certainly get a fight between Imavov and Chimaev sometime after UFC Paris. What do you think of Imavov’s demands regarding UFC Paris? Do you wish to see him fight Chimaev? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.