Nassourdine Imavov likes his chances against Khamzat Chimaev if he is confirmed as the new number one contender for UFC’s middleweight championship.

Imavov ended the ten-year undefeated streak of fellow contender Caio Borralho in front of a raucous home country crowd in the UFC’s return to Paris, France on Saturday night, defeating the Brazilian by unanimous decision after five rounds of action.

The bout had been billed as a number one contender matchup, though this won’t be confirmed until a bout between Reiner de Ridder and Anthony Hernandez yields a result – but if indeed it is Imavov who is the next man up, he says that he will relish his underdog role against the undefeated Chimaev.

“It fits me very well. I like to be the underdog,” Imavov said in the ESPN post-fight show, as noted by MMA Fighting. “When I’m the underdog, I do the best performance.”

Frenchman Imavov, now 17-4 (1) in his professional career, is unbeaten in his past six outings in the UFC cage; a run which shows wins over the likes of Jared Cannonier, Brendan Allen and Israel Adesanya.

And it is his win over Adesanya that gives him confidence of once again upsetting the odds.

“People said that against [Israel] Adesanya, he was the best striker in the world and that I couldn’t fight with him, but I knocked him out on the feet,” he explained.

“This guy Caio, I didn’t have to fight against him, but I did it. He was coming from a 10-year run of victories, 16 victories and seven victories in the UFC. I fought him, I won every round, and once again I proved that I’m the best. For me, there is no discussion that I’m [not] going to fight for the belt.”