Joe Pyfer Stops Israel Adesanya In Second Round At UFC Seattle

In the biggest moment of his career so far, Joe Pyfer overcame the striking onslaught of former two-time middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and finished the fight on top in the second round on Saturday night in Seattle.

Through the first round of the main event contest, Pyfer was staying competitive with the world-class kickboxer in the standup department, despite Adesanya’s illusive footwork and head movement. Even though he was landing powerful shots of his own, Pyfer took a considerable amount of punishment from low kicks to his lead leg, which noticeably affected his movement by the start of the second round.

Once Adesanya noticed his opponent’s decrease in mobility, he began to put the pressure on, continuing with low kicks and throwing mixed punches between the head and body. But once the firefight was underway, Joe Pyfer seemed right at home as he started to land damaging power punches, at one point even putting Adesanya’s back against the cage during one of the key exchanges.

JOE PYFER IS LANDING EARLY 👊

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— UFC (@ufc) March 29, 2026

Amid the pair opening up in the kickboxing aspect, Pyfer decided it was time to take things back to the ground and secured a knee-pick takedown. Once on the ground, ‘Body Bagz’ progressed to mount almost immediately. After multiple damaging strikes from the top, and a pair of position changes in an attempt to avoid them, Adesanya surrendered his back to Pyfer, who continued to deliver punches until referee Herb Dean put an end to the action.

Through this match, Pyfer advanced his UFC record to 7-1, while adding a 16th win in his 19 match MMA career. Following his dominant win over the former champion in Adesanya at UFC Fight Night Seattle, it is expected that Pyfer will be making a massive jump in the 185-pound rankings, as he defeated the No. 4 competitor while currently sitting at No. 14.