{"id":5714,"date":"2025-04-12T00:30:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T23:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=5714"},"modified":"2025-04-12T14:21:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T13:21:14","slug":"shame-on-dagestan-nassourdine-imavov-removed-from-title-race-amid-explosive-cowardice-accusations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/shame-on-dagestan-nassourdine-imavov-removed-from-title-race-amid-explosive-cowardice-accusations\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Shame on Dagestan?&#8221; \u2013 Nassourdine Imavov Removed from Title Race Amid Explosive Cowardice Accusations!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2274\" data-end=\"2550\">A shockwave has hit the UFC middleweight division: French fighter of Dagestani origin, <strong data-start=\"2361\" data-end=\"2383\">Nassourdine Imavov<\/strong>, has been removed from title contention\u2014not due to a loss inside the cage, but after controversially refusing a pivotal fight. Has he sabotaged his own golden chance?<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2557\" data-end=\"2595\"><strong data-start=\"2561\" data-end=\"2595\">From Royal Rise to a Roadblock<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2597\" data-end=\"2853\">Since his powerful rise through the ranks, Imavov was seen as a future champion. His stunning second-round KO of <strong data-start=\"2710\" data-end=\"2729\">Israel Adesanya<\/strong> confirmed his threat. Yet instead of earning a title shot, he now finds himself at the center of confusion and controversy.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2860\" data-end=\"2938\"><strong data-start=\"2864\" data-end=\"2938\">Caio Borralho Fires Back: &#8220;He Refused to Fight Me\u2026 He\u2019ll Pay for That&#8221;<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_50327\"  width=\"696\" height=\"391\"  data-origwidth=\"696\" data-origheight=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OnI3BxQsWVw?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2940\" data-end=\"3043\">In a fiery interview with <em data-start=\"2966\" data-end=\"2981\">Full Send MMA<\/em>, Brazilian contender <strong data-start=\"3003\" data-end=\"3020\">Caio Borralho<\/strong> dropped a bombshell:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"3044\" data-end=\"3277\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"3046\" data-end=\"3277\">&#8220;I heard in New York the UFC offered me a fight against Imavov. I accepted immediately&#8230; but he refused.&#8221;<br data-start=\"3152\" data-end=\"3155\" \/>&#8220;Then UFC came back to me and said: if he refuses, you&#8217;re next. Suddenly, he changed his mind and said: okay, I accept.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3279\" data-end=\"3357\">But Caio didn\u2019t stop there. He took direct aim at Imavov\u2019s identity and honor.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3364\" data-end=\"3421\"><strong data-start=\"3368\" data-end=\"3421\">&#8220;You\u2019re No Dagestani\u2026 Dagestan Is Ashamed of You&#8221;<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3423\" data-end=\"3464\">In a scathing statement, Borralho said:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"3465\" data-end=\"3633\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"3467\" data-end=\"3633\">&#8220;They say he\u2019s Dagestani? Real Dagestani men love to fight, they live hard lives in the streets. This guy? He&#8217;s soft. He&#8217;s not Dagestani. Dagestan is ashamed of him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3635\" data-end=\"3745\">Fierce words that will surely trigger a response from Imavov\u2019s camp\u2014and take this feud far beyond the Octagon.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3752\" data-end=\"3815\"><strong data-start=\"3756\" data-end=\"3815\">What Will the UFC Decide? Is Imavov\u2019s Title Dream Over?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3817\" data-end=\"3997\">The UFC now faces a key decision: punish Imavov for backing out, or give him another chance? Either way, his name will remain in the headlines\u2014for reasons far beyond just fighting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A shockwave has hit the UFC middleweight division: French fighter of Dagestani origin, Nassourdine Imavov, has been removed from title contention\u2014not due to a loss inside the cage, but after controversially refusing a pivotal fight. Has he sabotaged his own golden chance? From Royal Rise to a Roadblock Since his powerful rise through the ranks, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,86,21,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"category-mma-video","9":"category-ufc-news","10":"category-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5716,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5714\/revisions\/5716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}