Nassourdine Imavov and Roman Dolidze went five rounds after a near-finish in the first frame of their UFC Vegas 85 headliner, and judges delivered some interesting scores in the middleweight headliner on Saturday night at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
Imavov was deducted a point in the fourth round for head-kicking Dolidze when the latter was considered grounded, and that deduction cost him what appeared to be a comfortable win on one judges’ scorecard.
Below is the official scorecard sheet for the UFC Vegas 85 headliner.
#UFCVegas85 Official Scorecards: Roman Dolidze vs Nassourdine Imavov (@Imavov1)
See every scorecard here ➡️: https://t.co/XVU7gRtHdg pic.twitter.com/2g0I4VvjQf
— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 4, 2024
Veteran officials Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy submitted the same scores only on two rounds – Round 3 and Round 5, which they awarded to Imavov via 10-9 scores. The rest, they were all over the board, resulting in scores of 49-45, 48-46 from Cleary and D’Amato that overruled a 47-47 draw scored by McCarthy.
Cleary scored every round for Imavov and gave the Russian fighter a 10-8 score in the first round, while D’Amato and McCarthy gave Imavov Rounds 1, 3 and 5 via 10-9 scores.
McCarthy’s draw resulted from two 10-9 scores awarded to Dolidze in Round 2 and Round 4, and with the point deduction, a 47-47 was the final tally.
Imavov got back to the winner’s circle after an inadvertent clash of heads cost him a win over Chris Curtis at UFC 289, while Dolidze dropped his second straight fight after a decision loss to Marvin Vettori at UFC 286.