Middleweight legend Israel Adesanya insists he will not be retiring anytime soon despite losing to Joe Pyfer, who made a brave reveal post-fight, at UFC Seattle.
Adesanya lost in the second round as Pyfer flattened the two-time middleweight champion before referee Herb Dean ended the bout at the 4:18 mark.
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Pyfer took his career record to 16-3 to with the win and the 29-year-old American climbs into the top four in the UFC middleweight rankings as a result.
That means a shot at champion Khamzat Chimaev is in his sights, while Adesanya’s winless streak remains at three years after losing four straight fights.
The 36-year-old Nigerian-New Zealander is not ready to call it quits, however.
“I expected the best Joe Pyfer,” he said
“I knew this was his biggest fight ever. There was nothing surprising.
“I wanted to feel like I’d been in a fight, and he gave me just that.
“You keep going again and again and again. I’m not f***ing leaving, you’ll never stop me.”
Pyfer also had a big revelation of his own after the fight.
He shared that he has been battling serious mental health issues in an emotional interview.
“It’s like I could see this moment happening,” Pyfer said.
“I almost took my own life a couple of weeks ago, and I hate crying, so I’m going to stop.
“God restored me, that’s the only reason I’m here, USA, let’s go!”
He continued: “We knew I had the bigger firepower, so I knew I was going to keep that pressure.
“[Adesanya] is one of the highest IQ champions of all time. He’s the greatest middleweight of all time.
“Whatever he does, I support him.”
Adesanya looked sharp in the opening minutes of the contest, defending several takedown attempts and even appearing to have his opponent hurt at one point.
However, he was eventually forced onto the backfoot after Pyfer rocked him with a left hook.
Pyfer followed it up with a good body shot, and then a stiff right hand that had Adesanya rocked.
The American eventually took Adesanya down and moved to his back.
Adesanya defended the choke attempt but couldn’t stop Pyfer’s ground-and-pound.
In the co-main, former flyweight champion Alexa Grasso picked up her first victory since 2023 with a spectacular knockout of Maycee Barber.
Grasso clobbered Barber with a big left hand at 2:42 of the opening round.
Barber stumbled from the shot and Grasso jumped on her back and applied a choke, but she was seemingly concussed from the initialy shot.