Joe Pyfer not only stopped his ex-title holder, Israel Adesanya, but also established himself with a career-best performance in the dominating 2nd round of their middleweight fight at UFC Seattle.
Adesanya (24-6), the former champion, demonstrated his usual finesse in the opening minutes, keeping his opponents at bay with his jab and constantly attacking with leg kicks, which landed quite effectively. Apart from that, he was able to foil Pyfer’s (16-3) attempts to engage him on the ground. Actually, after Pyfer finally scored the late takedown, Adesanya seemed at ease the whole round.
Things got better for Pyfer, who was able to get inside his opponent’s reach better in Round 2. At first, he got very clean strikes against him, but then he responded with a very powerful uppercut and very heavy hooks, which forced Adesanya to retreat.
Shortly after a brief meeting, Pyfer hit Adesanya with a left hook that sent the former champion staggering and gave Pyfer the chance he wanted. Quickly initiating grips on the body, Pyfer brought the battle down to the mat, and once there, he positioned himself better three times.
After that, Pyfer came down with incessant, devastating punches until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight, which resulted in Adesanya suffering his 4th consecutive loss.
During a secondary main event, Alexa Grasso delivered an amazing knockout on Maycee Barber and got the night’s Performance of the Night bonus, along with Pyfer.
