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UFC 289 will take place on Saturday, June 10 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. The night is highlighted by Amanda Nunes defending her women’s bantamweight belt against #5 Irene Aldana. The early prelims will begin at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the prelims at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+. One match on the preliminary card features #12 Nassourdine Imavov taking on #14 Chris Curtis in a middleweight bout.
Imavov enters with a 12-4 career record, picking up five wins by knockout and four by submission. He heads into this matchup coming off a unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland in January of this year. Imavov had won three bouts in a row prior to that fight and is looking to get back into the win column.
Curtis has more professional fighting experience than his opponents and will go into the bout with a 30-10 record. He has 17 wins by knockout and one by submission. This will be Curtis’ seventh fight in the UFC. He won his first three fights with the promotion but has gone 1-2 in the most recent three. It is a quicker turnaround for the vet as he is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Kelvin Gastelum in early April of this year.
How to watch Nassourdine Imavov vs. Chris Curtis
Date: Saturday, June 10
Fight time: Preliminary card starts at 8:00 p.m. ET
Live stream: ESPN and ESPN+ via WatchESPN or the ESPN app
DraftKings Sportsbook Odds/Predictions
Imavov: -150
Curtis: +130
Splits: 67% of handle, 50% of bets on Imavov
This is a good matchup between these heavy hitters. Neither fighter is known for attempting takedowns or trying to get to the ground. Imavov has submission victories, but they all came before he arrived in the UFC. This is going to be a close fight, but Curtis’ experience gives him a slight edge over me. The bets are rightly split between the two, but I think Curtis comes away with a big win.