Joe Pyfer delivered the biggest victory of his career at UFC Seattle, stopping former two-time middleweight champion Israel Adesanya via second-round TKO and handing the Nigerian star his fourth consecutive loss.
The fight ended at 4:18 of Round 2 when Pyfer flattened Adesanya on the mat and unleashed relentless ground-and-pound, forcing referee Herb Dean to intervene at Climate Pledge Arena.
Adesanya started sharply, using leg kicks and jabs to control distance while stuffing Pyfer’s early takedown attempts. But momentum shifted in the second round when Pyfer closed the distance, landed a crushing left hook, secured a body lock, and dragged the 36-year-old to the canvas.
Pyfer transitioned to mount and then took Adesanya’s back before raining down punches and elbows until the stoppage.
Pyfer’s emotional revelation
After the fight, Pyfer, 29, broke down in tears, revealing he had contemplated suicide weeks before the bout.
“I almost took my own life a couple [of] weeks ago, but I found God,” Pyfer said in his post-fight interview. “God restored me. That’s the only reason I’m here.”
Pyfer has now won four straight fights and climbs to No. 8 in the UFC middleweight rankings, while Adesanya falls out of the top 10 entirely.
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Adesanya refuses to retire
Despite the loss marking his fourth consecutive defeat, the Nigerian-born New Zealander dismissed any talk of retirement.
“You keep going. Again and again and again and again and again,” Adesanya told Daniel Cormier in the Octagon. “I’m not fucking leaving. You’ll never stop me. I might get beat, but I’ll always remain undefeated.”
Adesanya’s losing streak began with his September 2023 title loss to Sean Strickland, followed by defeats to Dricus du Plessis and Nassourdine Imavov. His most recent win came against Alex Pereira in April 2023.
The former champion had not fought in 13 months before facing Pyfer. He acknowledged he expected Pyfer’s best and got exactly that.
Pyfer, meanwhile, gave high praise for his fallen opponent: “In my book, he’s the best middleweight of all time. I love you as a champion, love you as a person.”
