Israel Adesanya had his moments against Joe Pyfer at UFC
Seattle. | Getty/UFC
Although he suffered his fourth consecutive loss in the
UFC Seattle headliner, Israel
Adesanya hasn’t lost his competitive fire.
The former middleweight champion started well but was gradually
overwhelmed by Joe Pyfer in
a second-round technical knockout loss in Saturday’s main event at
the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. It was the third consecutive
outing in which “The Last Stylebender” has been finished inside the
distance.
Despite those discouraging circumstances, Adesanya currently has no
designs on calling it a career.
“You keep going. Again and again and again and again and again,”
Adesanya said during a post-fight interview in the Octagon.
“I’m not f—-ing leaving. You’ll never stop me. I might get beat,
but I’ll always remain undefeated.”
Adesanya is regarded as one of the top middleweight champions in
UFC history. He claimed the 185-pound strap with a second-round
knockout of Robert
Whittaker in October 2019 and defended the belt five times
before falling to Alex
Pereira at UFC 281. The City Kickboxing member regained the
title by knocking out Pereira in their rematch, but his current
skid began at UFC 293, when he relinquished the championship to
Sean
Strickland in a significant upset in September 2023.
‘I Expected His Best’
Adesanya outstruck Pyfer in the opening stanza, but his decision to
stand and trade with his powerful foe led to his demise in Round 2.
After getting rocked on the feet, Adesanya was taken down and
eventually succumbed to ground-and-pound at the 4:18 mark of the
period. “The Last Stylebender” had no regrets regarding his
approach.
“I expected the best Joe Pyfer. I
knew this was his biggest fight ever…There was nothing surprising —
I expected his best, and he brought the best,” Adesanya said. “I
said before coming into this fight, it’s been 13 months. I wanted
to feel like I’d been in a fight. He gave me just that.”