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Nassourdine Imavov crept a little bit closer to a middleweight title shot on Saturday.
“The Sniper” utilized crisp boxing to outduel Caio Borralho in a largely striking-based affair to take a unanimous decision triumph in the UFC Fight Night 258 headliner at Accor Arena in Paris. The Frenchman denied his all of opponent’s takedowns and landed the more consequential blows to delight the home folks and extend his promotional winning streak to five. Whether that guarantees Imavov a title shot remains to be seen, because the winner of the Reinier de Ridder-Anthony Hernandez bout at UFC Vancouver on Oct. 18 also figures to have a say in that situation. As it stands, Imavov keeps his No. 3 ranking at 185 pounds, while Borralho falls one spot behind Hernandez to No. 9.
In Saturday’s co-main event, Benoit St. Denis slowed the Mauricio Ruffy hype by submitting his Brazilian adversary with a face crank 2:56 into Round 2 of their lightweight encounter. By ending the previously No. 14-ranked Ruffy’s seven-fight professional winning streak, St. Denis takes over his foe’s ranking and jettisons the Brazilian from the poll. And don’t forget: It wasn’t all that long ago that “God of War” was the up-and-coming lightweight talent with a five-fight UFC winning streak to his credit.
Earlier at UFC Paris, former Professional Fighters League champion Ante Delija injected some much-needed life into the heavyweight division with a first-round knockout of tough gatekeeper Marcin Tybura. Not only did “Walking Trouble” avenge a loss to Tybura that occurred approximately one decade ago, but he punched his ticket to the heavyweight rankings, entering the poll at No. 11.
Note: Previous rankings listed in brackets.
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