Joe Pyfer stopped former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya via TKO at 4:18 of the second round at UFC Fight Night in Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday March 28, 2026 earning the biggest win of his career and handing Adesanya his fourth consecutive defeat.
Adesanya looked sharp in the first round, establishing his range with a steady jab and punishing leg kicks while calmly shutting down Pyfer’s initial clinch and takedown attempts. Pyfer found his own moments, landing a clean right hand and chopping at the calf, but struggled to keep Adesanya pinned down in the opening frame.
The second round however told an entirely different story. Momentum shifted dramatically as Adesanya continued to find success at range targeting the body and head with fluid combinations while visibly damaging Pyfer’s lead leg. But as the exchanges intensified Pyfer began to close the distance more effectively, landing a sharp uppercut and heavy hooks to force Adesanya into defensive mode.
Pyfer stung Adesanya with a crushing left hook and wisely used it to dump him on the canvas, where he transitioned from mount to back mount, eventually flattening out the former champion and pounding out the finish with a barrage of elbows and punches that left the referee with no choice but to wave it off.
Adesanya, fighting out of New Zealand, has not won a bout since regaining middleweight gold in April 2023 at UFC 287, a run of four consecutive losses that represents by far the worst form of his career.
Despite the loss Adesanya showed no sign of accepting that his time in the sport is over. “I’m not f—ing leaving. You’ll never stop me,” he said after the fight. “I might get beaten, but I’ll always remain undefeated in my mind.”
Pyfer meanwhile was magnanimous in victory, expressing deep appreciation for Adesanya, whom he considers the greatest middleweight champion in UFC history. With four consecutive wins Pyfer could find himself inside the top five at middleweight when the rankings update next week.
For Nigerian fight fans who have followed Adesanya’s career since his early days from his stunning rise to become a two-time UFC middleweight champion to this difficult current chapter, Saturday’s result is a sobering reminder that time and youth are the only opponents the Last Stylebender has never been able to outmanoeuvre.
