Nassourdine Imavov is on the cusp of reaching the next level. After all, his upcoming fight against Israel Adesanya at UFC Fight Night in Saudi Arabia this Saturday is the most important fight of his career so far. ‘Izzy’ is the biggest star in the division and among the most popular in the entire promotion.

A win over ‘Izzy’ is likely to put the Paris-based fighter into the title picture immediately. After all, reigning champ Dricus Du Plessis is set to defend his title against Sean Strickland the same month, and the winner of Adesanya-Imavov will probably be in line right after Khamzat Chimaev. And Imavov is seemingly very serious about becoming champ, as his recent shake-up of his coaching team proves.

Why did Nassourdine Imavov change his coach?

Nassourdine Imavov has a pretty good record in the UFC, especially after he changed his head coach. Although he lost his second fight in the UFC to Phil Hawes in 2021, it was a razor-thin fight, which the Dagestan-born fighter lost via a majority decision. His only other UFC loss has come to former champion Sean Strickland, who comprehensively beat ‘The Sniper’ via a unanimous decision in 2023.

But Imavov is so serious about his career and so determined to become champion that he changed his coach after the Strickland loss and a no-contest against Chris Curtis the same year. Until the Strickland loss two years ago, the Dagestan native used to train under coach Fernand Lopez at the latter’s MMA Factory gym in Paris.

Lopez is perhaps the best MMA coach in France and has coached the likes of Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane. However, it seems that Imavov wasn’t really satisfied with Lopez’s tutelage. Although ‘The Sniper’ has not revealed the exact reason for the change, the fact that he now trains under Nicolas Ott does make it seem that Imavov didn’t feel he was getting what he wanted from Lopez.

Nassourdine Imavov’s new gym and coach

It is unknown why Imavov left the MMA Factory gym in Paris, especially since Lopez was known to have a coaching style where he trains each fighter according to their strengths and weaknesses. But what we do know is that training under Nicolas Ott has done wonders for the Dagestan native. After all, since changing coaches, Imavov has three wins against three ranked opponents and has looked pretty sharp in those clashes.

Ott is also a former mixed martial artist and used to train under Lopez. However, unlike Lopez, who comes from a grappling background, Ott is primarily a striking coach. In addition, Ott is an expert in bodybuilding and nutrition, and has a unique method of coaching, which one French outlet has termed ‘The Ott Method.’

What is this method exactly? Well according to Ott, the first step is creating a very close bond between him and his students through “repetition of hours that creates trust and listening in times of stress.” At a more technical level, Ott believes in a meticulous choice of sparring partners according to each fighter’s style as well as giving a free hand to specialist coaches in training his fighters. And the results speak for themselves as Imavov is on the cusp of getting a UFC title shot. What do you think about Nassourdine Imavov’s change of coaching team?