Michael Bisping On Israel Adesanya’s Decision To Keep Fighting
Following Israel Adesanya’s loss to Joe Pyfer this past weekend at UFC Seattle, the former two-time middleweight champion made it clear that he does not intend to retire, despite his now four-fight losing streak.
Even though Adesanya showed shades of his old self in the fight on Saturday, setting up well-timed strikes and delivering with precision accuracy, he was eventually no match Pyfer. The referee called a stop to the action in the second round after Pyfer took the fight to the ground and delivered ruthless punches from the back-mounted position. Following the fight, Adesanya indicated he has no plans to retire and intends to keep fighting in the UFC, despite his losing streak and falling to a fighter ranked outside the top ten.
JOE PYFER IS LANDING EARLY 👊
[ #UFCSeattle | LIVE on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/hfyvIVpq8g
— UFC (@ufc) March 29, 2026
While giving his take on where Adesanya should go from here with his fighting career, Bisping expressed that retiring before his legacy takes too much damage may have been the right call. ‘The Count’ even compared the situation to the latter part of the legendary career of former middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who was undefeated between 2006 and 2012, but then went 1-8-1 between 2013 and 2020, resulting in a UFC record of 17-7-1.
“I wish, in a way, that Israel would have retired on Saturday night,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “And say, ‘You know what? I did it, I achieved my goals, I got here, I was a champion in kickboxing, I came over to mixed martial arts, I was able to beat all these fighters, I was able to stop takedowns, I was able to become champion, a dominant champion, I’ve made money, I’ve built a brand for myself, I’ve opened up the doors for a great post-fight career, thank you for everything.’ And then put the gloves down in the octagon. But he didn’t say that.
(h/t MMA Junkie)
While Bisping feels Adesanya should consider retirement, not everyone agrees, including fellow UFC commentator Daniel Cormier. ‘DC’ feels that Adesanya fought well against a tough and on-the-rise opponent, and should continue competing as long as he takes the same approach as he did with his volumetric striking in the second round of the Pyfer bout.
“People were wondering whether or not, if Adesanya didn’t get the job done tonight, if it would be it,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “To me it did not sound like he is almost remotely done with his UFC career. Honestly, the way that he was fighting, I would encourage him to keep going. Because he was fighting really well.
“I will question and I think Izzy will question when he gets back to watching this fight, why he chose the path that he did in Round 2, because he was fighting really well.”
(h/t MMA Junkie)