Dagestan-born French national Nassourdine Imavov stands on the verge of the most important fight of his career. 

The 29-year-old, 14-4 in his professional career to date, is set to take on submission expert Brendan Allen in a featured bout serving as the co-main event to the UFC’s return to Paris this weekend — and he knows that a win over Allen, who is unbeaten in his past seven fights, will move him up past the fourth position he currently occupies in the official UFC middleweight rankings.

To win, one suspects that Imavov will need to navigate past Allen’s tricky grappling game where he will look to add to his six career knockout or TKO finishes — a result he scored this past June when he ended the night of former title contender Jared Cannonier in the fourth round of their contest in Louisville, Kentucky.

You check out that fight in full below:

–