Nassourdine Imavov to fight Brendan Allen at UFC Paris after all

French fighter Nassourdine Imavov will face Brendan Allen in Paris, France at the Accor Arena during the upcoming UFC Paris. The scheduled middleweight bout is scheduled to be the co-main event of UFC Paris on September 28, 2024.

News of the bout was first reported by Fight Minds. It comes after Allen appeared to agree to the bout with Imavov weeks ago, but then changed his mind earlier this month.

Allen took to his Instagram Story on July 8 (captured here via MMA Orbit) to express his disapproval of not fighting in a main event, saying, “Two weeks ago they said Imavov in Paris, I said yes. I said I want to be the main event because I’ve been to the main event three times in a row, won all three, I’m going into enemy territory.”

Allen went on to say, “The next thing you know, BSD-Moicano is the main event. There’s no way I’m going to go all the way to Paris and have these two guys come all over me,” expressing his shock and irritation at the announcement of the main event.

“So again, Imavov, if you want to fight, if you want to get this done, if you just want to fight, come to America, we’ll get it done,” Allen said.

It appears Allen has changed his mind and will settle for a co-main event slot at UFC Paris. Neither fight has been officially announced as a main or co-main event by the promotion.

Brendan Allen (24-5) has been on a seven-fight winning streak since losing to Chris Curtis in 2021. Allen has defeated five of those seven opponents via rear naked choke. And three of his last four fights have been main events (Andre Muniz, Paul Craig and most recently a rematch with Chris Curtis in April).

Nassourdine Imavov (14-4) is also on a decent run, having won five of his last seven fights. Imavov’s last two fights have been big events, as he won a majority decision over Roman Dolidze in April. Imavov last stepped into the cage in June, when he suffered a controversial fourth-round stoppage against Jared Cannonier. This will be only the third UFC Fight Night event to take place in Paris, France. Imavov, who trains out of MMA Factory in Paris, will be competing for the promotion in the “City of Love” for the second time, having previously fought Jaoquin Buckley there in 2022.

With the addition of Imavov vs. Allen, UFC Paris now has eight scheduled fights with the following lineup:

• Renato Moicano vs Benoit Sanit-Denis
• Nassourdine Imavov vs Brendan Allen
• William Gomis vs Joanderson Brito
• Germaine de Randamie versus Nora Cornolle
• Allin Perez vs Darya Zheleznyakova
• Ziam vs. Matt Frevola Rates
• Daniel Barez vs Victor Altamirano
• Oumar Sy vs Da Woon Jung