Daniel Cunningham
This past Saturday in the main event of UFC Seattle, we saw a big time matchup in the middleweight division. Former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (24-6) was looking to halt his losing streak while Joe Pyfer (16-3) was looking to continue his winning streak and leap frog into the top of the middleweight rankings.
When breaking down this fight, I figured that Pyfer would be the most dangerous in the first couple of rounds. I personally picked Adesanya to win late after surviving the early attacks from Pyfer. Pyfer did have his moments in the first round including a big takedown.
However, Adesanya felt like he was taking things over in the second round. Pyfer was seeing his lead leg chewed up by leg kicks and Adesanya was looking good. Then, Adesanya decided to stand right in front of Pyfer which was a huge mistake. Both men landed but Pyfer obviously landed with more power.
Adesanya got hurt badly in an exchange and he was taken down. He had no answer at that point and was ultimately stopped and now the former UFC middleweight champion has lost four fights in a row.
What’s next after UFC Seattle?
While this is the fourth straight loss for Israel Adesanya, it’s the third straight loss where he looked really good until he was stopped. Against Dricus Du Plessis and Nassourdine Imavov just like on Saturday night, Adesanya was having a lot of success until the finish sequence. He’s not getting dominated, but mistakes are costing the former UFC champion big time.
In terms of what’s next, he’s now dropped to ninth in the middleweight rankings following this loss to Pyfer. Adesanya seems to be open to facing up-and-coming contenders and we know that he’s not retiring which does open up the pool of potential opponents.
You could look at a guy like Christian Leroy Duncan next for Adesanya. CLD just won at UFC London against Roman Dolidze and he needs another step up in competition. Speaking of Roman Dolidze, that could be another name to watch for Adesanya. Gregory Rodrigues is someone to also watch but I personally would rather see something else for Adesanya.
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