UFC star Israel Adesanya could retire with a loss to Joe Pyfer at UFC Seattle tomorrow, says Michael Bisping.
Tomorrow night, Israel Adesanya will go head to head with Joe Pyfer in a blockbuster middleweight main event at UFC Seattle. After his recent losing skid, this serves as an opportunity for Stylebender to prove that he still has what it takes to compete with the best at 185 pounds.
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Of course, for Pyfer, this gives him the chance to land one of the biggest wins of his career, and you would have to imagine that if he gets it done, it will be via knockout. Either way, Adesanya knows that the pressure is on, in a similar manner to Kamaru Usman’s fight against Joaquin Buckley last year.
In a recent video, the aforementioned Michael Bisping weighed in on what the future looks like for Israel Adesanya if he can’t get the win.
Bisping’s view on Adesanya’s future
“If Izzy loses this one, I think that’ll be the end of his career,” Bisping said recently on the “Believe You Me” podcas. “I think he will choose to say, ‘I clearly haven’t got it anymore because back in the day I would’ve smoked someone like Joe Pyfer.’ The reality is, what is he, (36) years old? It comes to everyone, and this sport decides when you retire.
“The sport retires you, and you don’t retire from the sport. And that could be what we’re seeing, or it could just be he had a good run in fighting, a lot of kickboxers and not the most wrestlers. I’m not trying to rip on his career. Then you go against Dricus (Du Plessis), had a bad night against (Sean) Strickland you go up against (Alex) Pereira. There’s no shame in any of these losses.
“(Nassourdine) Imavov could be the next guy. But when it’s four out of five, then you lose to Joe Pyfer, who is (ranked) No. 13, then it’s five out of six. When you’re losing five out of your last six, that’s time to walk away.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
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