Following a jaw-dropping knockout in his debut this past October, Hawes had to show perseverance and durability in a back-and-forth battle against Imavov over three rounds to win a majority decision on the scorecards. Two judges scored the fight 29-28 for Hawes with the third judge scoring the bout 28-28 but that was still enough for the 32-year-old prospect to get the win.
“I was pretty confident,” Hawes said about the decision. “The third round, it depends with the judges. He hit me with a couple good shots. He got that round. He definitely got me. I wasn’t hurt enough to go down.”
The middleweights were both ready to trade strikes at the start of the fight with Hawes attacking the legs with kicks and then throwing heavy leather when going back up to the head. Late in the opening round, Hawes secured a big takedown as he planted Imavov on the mat and then unleashing some ferocious punches before the horn sounded.
Knowing that Imavov was struggling in the clinch and on the ground, Hawes turned back to his grappling game in the second round. While that plan was largely working, Imavov made him pay whenever he got some separation as he unloaded several hard shots consecutive that had Hawes wobbled momentarily.
To counter Imavov’s offense on the feet, Hawes quickly turned back to his wrestling while dragging the Russian fighter back down to the canvas. Hawes continued to employ that same game plan throughout the fight while Imavov was desperate to let his hands go in an attempt to stage the comeback.
Imavov nearly turned it around with less than two-minutes remaining as he blasted Hawes with a blistering combination that once again had the Contender Series veteran in trouble. Hawes was quick to grab onto the clinch again but Imavov continued to throw everything left in his arsenal until the fight finally came to a close.
Unfortunately, Imavov just couldn’t do enough damage to sway the judges and Hawes got the win as he moves to 2-0 in the UFC with six consecutive wins overall. Afterwards, Hawes looked towards an upcoming middleweight clash in April as a possibility for his next fight.
“I know [Chris] Weidman and Uriah Hall, they’re having that thing,” Hawes said. “So maybe someone gets Covid or something, slide me up in there.”
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