No. 5 Meets No. 7 in Louisville Saturday Night

The Yum Center in Louisville, KY is usually quiet in the early part of June. What’s known as the home court of The University of Louisville’s men’s and women’s basketball teams is in its offseason, with the opening tipoff taking place in early November and the school itself is also silent, with much of U of L’s student body on summer break.

However, the arena’s got a busy couple of days this Friday and Saturday. Friday night, Yum Center is the host venue for this week’s broadcast of WWE Friday Night SmackDown! on FOX. Less than 24 hours later, sports entertainment gives way to MMA.

On a week where the UFC‘s been making headlines away from the famed Octagon due to  the status of the UFC 303 main event in three and a half weeks, the promotion will touch down in Kentucky this Saturday for UFC Louisville. Live coverage will be seen from start-to-finish on ESPN and ESPN+ inside the United States, beginning with the prelims at 5 pm ET/ 2 pm PT Saturday afternoon.

Cannonier Battles Imavov in UFC Louisville Main Event

Main card fights follow at 8 pm ET/ 5 pm PT on the cabler and streaming platform. All told, absent of any postponed fights between now and fight night, the final version of UFC Louisville features a 14-bout slate. Highlighting the night’s activity in the Cardinals’ home arena is a contest at 185 lbs. in the UFC Louisville main event of the evening.

No. 4 contender Jared Cannonier (17-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) takes on No. 7 contender Nassourdine Imavov (13-4, 1 NC MMA, 5-2, 1 NC UFC) for the headliner. As with all UFC main events, this fight is an advertised maximum of five rounds at five minutes per round to close the show.

Louisville, are you ready?!

IT’S FIGHT WEEK 😤#UFCLouisville | Live on @ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/7Z68bPUZWQ

— UFC (@ufc) June 3, 2024

UFC Louisville Main Event Fighter Comparison and Betting Odds

Heading into the UFC Louisville main event this weekend, Nassourdine Imavov stands as the taller man at 6-foot-3, compared to the 5-foot-11 frame of Jared Cannonier. The fourth-ranked contender owns a 2 1/2-inch reach advantage (77 1/2 inches to 75 inches even) over his seventh-ranked counterpart, while Imavov has a half-inch leg reach advantage (42 inches even to 41 1/2 inches) over Cannonier.

Currently, the oddsmakers have Nassourdine Imavov installed as a -120 favorite on the money line, while Cannonier counters as a +100 underdog. If you plan on betting on this or any other fight happening in MMA this weekend, please wager responsibly.

Jared Cannonier Returns for First Time in a Year

Jared Cannonier enters the UFC Louisville main event on Saturday night having posted a record of 3-2 in his last five fights. Currently, he’s on a two-fight winning streak. Last time out, he scored a unanimous decision over Marvin Vettori (19-6-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) in UFC Vegas 75 on June 17, 2023.

After that, Cannonier was scheduled to make his return during the first weekend of December for UFC Austin but the fight against Roman Dolidze was scrubbed amid the former sustaining a torn MCL. Saturday’s headliner is Cannonier’s first appearance in the UFC since his injury.

During an appearance on BJ Penn Radio’s Just Scrap, Cannonier mentions that his return may have happened earlier.

“I was supposed to get cleared [to fight] in late March, but I didn’t get the appointment until early April, so [in] early April, I got cleared,” Cannonier recalled. “They offered me a fight at 301 to fight Paulo Costa, that would have been way too early to jump right into a camp coming off this injury. So, it just wasn’t the right timing, the perfect opponent, he’s a better opponent than the one I have now, but it is what it is.”

He’s had 51 weeks between fights and his injury is now fully healed. Will Jared Cannonier make good in his first fight after the hiatus?

Imavov Looks to Run Unbeaten Streak to Three

In the other corner, Nassourdine Imavov has posted a 3-1 mark with one no-contest in his last five fights. At the moment, he’s on a two-fight unbeaten streak.

Back in February, he bested Dolidze (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) by majority decision after five rounds during the UFC Vegas 85 main event. Recently, Imavov caught up with UFC.com to talk about getting acclimated to waging five-round fights.

“I feel very well right now,” Imavov began, translated to English. “It’s been the third main event of five rounds at five minutes. I feel like I’m getting better at it. I feel like I even prefer fighting five rounds a fight. I worked a lot on the training camp on the pacing of the fight in order to produce great things all around the fight.”

Only time will tell, however, if he can put what he’s learned from this training camp together so that the UFC Louisville main event results in a win.

Analysis, Film Study, and Prediction

Stylistically, the UFC Louisville main event looks to favor Jared Cannonier, a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, compared to Nassourdine Imavov’s boxing background.

Cannonier Can Go Late into a Fight

While Jared Cannonier has 12 career wins by stoppage, he’s also been known to get into the later rounds of a fight. In his last fight vs. Vettori, he nearly got stopped in the opening round and had to battle back. As the fight progressed, Cannonier had landed north of 200 significant strikes and set a record in that category at middleweight in the process.

This pace continued throughout the fifth round, with Vettori having no answer for Cannonier’s variety of strikes. Simply put, Jared Cannonier has to put his foot on the gas pedal when the UFC Louisville event commences on Saturday night and keep it there for however long it lasts, whether it goes the contracted five rounds or not.

If he can control the pace of the headliner in Louisville, this one will be his without any question.

Imavov Can Take Guys Deep, Too

In the other corner, Nassourdine Imavov is also known for going deep into a fight, like he did vs. Joaquin Buckley in Paris a couple of years ago. While Imavov landed some serious ground and pound from full mount late in round one, time ran out on him before he could finish the fight.

After that first round, Imavov had Buckley right where he wanted him, scoring the crisper punches in round two and landing more ground and pound before jettisoning a submission attempt. While Buckley put forth a late surge in the third and final round, it wasn’t enough to offset Imavov’s efforts from the first two rounds.

If Nassourdine Imavov can exhaust Jared Cannonier, he’ll leave Louisville with another win on his record.

Final Thoughts

Buckle up for the UFC Louisville main event. This ride could get bumpy before it comes to a full stop.

Prediction: Jared Cannonier by Unanimous Decision.