Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will headline UFC Seattle on March 28th as he looks to snap a three-fight skid.
After winning 23 of his first 24 MMA fights, former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has lost four of his last five bouts, including back-to-back stoppage defeats to Dricus du Plessis and Nassourdine Imavov. Adesanya faces a must-win situation if he wants to get back into the middleweight title mix amid a three-fight losing streak.
After Khamzat Chimaev claimed the UFC middleweight championship, this reopened the doors to Adesanya and Du Plessis’s other rivals to contend for the belt. Adesanya is widely regarded as one of the greatest middleweights of all time, defeating the likes of Alex Pereira, Jared Cannonier, and Anderson Silva.
While Adesanya recently admitted that the belt isn’t his primary focus at this stage of his career, he surely wouldn’t decline another opportunity to reclaim the middleweight throne. To do so, Adesanya will have to get past one of the UFC’s most powerful punchers.
Israel Adesanya set to return in UFC Seattle main event on March 28th
As announced by UFC CEO Dana White during a recent Instagram live stream, Adesanya will fight rising contender Joe Pyfer (15-3) in the UFC Seattle main event on March 28th at Climate Pledge Arena. The card also features a rematch between top women’s flyweight contenders Maycee Barber and former champion Alexa Grasso.
Pyfer provides another huge knockout threat to Adesanya, who hasn’t fought since a knockout loss to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia last February. The former Dana White’s Contender Series standout Pyfer has won three bouts in a row, including a recent face-crank submission against Abus Magomedov at UFC 320.
Pyfer has won three in a row since suffering his first-career UFC defeat to Jack Hermansson in February 2024, a fight which marked his first UFC main event slot. Now, Pyfer will look for five-round redemption against the former champion Adesanya.
The UFC’s March 28th event marks the promotion’s return to Seattle after hosting a UFC Fight Night event last year, headlined by Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong. The full UFC Seattle card is expected to be announced and finalized in the coming weeks.