Nassourdine Imavov Confronts Sean Strickland Over an Unsigned Title Fight
Nassourdine Imavov caught Sean Strickland outside the UFC Performance Institute and asked the question the champion has not answered in writing. The middleweight contender wanted to know why the contract for their title fight is still unsigned.
Video posted by Championship Rounds shows the exchange in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Imavov, in a white T-shirt, followed Strickland toward the glass doors and kept the complaint on the paperwork. Security in black shirts moved between them as the champion walked.
“You not sign the contract?” Imavov said. “I have money.”
Strickland did not stop to negotiate. Imavov stayed on him, telling the people around the doorway that the champion talks on social media and then leaves. The language got personal once Strickland kept moving.
“He talks sht everytime. Social media,” Imavov said. “He is pssy bro.”
Staffers tried to cut it off. One voice told him to stop. Another used his name. Imavov pointed after Strickland anyway and asked where he was going. “I’m here,” he said. “What’s you gonna do now?” A member of the security team then had both arms on him as the group broke up. No punches landed. The clip ends with Imavov being held back.
The argument matches the holdup Strickland has already described. On September 27 he wrote that the Imavov fight was down to pay.
“We’re discussing pay now. Once that detail is squared, its locked in,” Strickland posted. “The issue is no one cares about the fake Frenchman. We’re almost there.”
Imavov had already tried to close that gap with his own money. He offered $500,000 from his pocket if Strickland beat him in January, and he called on the UFC to strip the champion if the holdout continued. “I have money,” in the Performance Institute doorway, was the same point without the post.
Strickland answered the purse fight on Wednesday in a different direction. He wrote that Conor McGregor made $30 million to fight for 30 seconds, and that the UFC would not pay middleweights a fraction of it.
He said he was contemplating a move to 205, knocking out his contract, and fighting Jake Paul. He told one commenter he would not care about giving up the belt.
That is the champion Imavov was chasing down a sidewalk. UFC 335 on December 12 was announced without him. Charles Oliveira and Diego Lopes have the BMF main event. The earliest public window left for a Strickland defense is January, and even that depends on a signature the champion has not given.
The first fight is the reason Imavov is owed a second look, and also the reason Strickland can shrug. They met on January 14, 2023, and Strickland won a unanimous decision. Imavov is 17-4, 9-2 in the UFC, and he has won five straight since that loss, including decisions over Israel Adesanya and Caio Borralho. Strickland is 31-7, 18-7 in the UFC. He took the belt back at UFC 328 in May with a split decision over Khamzat Chimaev.
Chimaev has made his own offer. On October 5 he wrote that he would pay Strickland $1 million and told him to send a location.
The former champion wants the rematch. Imavov wants the first defense. Strickland, for the moment, is talking about vacating.
The UFC has not booked the fight, and it has not said it will strip the title. Imavov’s tape does not change the contract.
It shows the contender who has been waiting on it, standing at the door, offering the money again while the champion walks to the parking lot. Until Strickland signs, or the promotion moves without him, January is still a date on someone else’s post.
