American middleweight UFC fighter Joe Pyfer credited his Nigerian-New Zealand counterpart Israel Adesanya for giving him the opportunity to win Saturday’s UFC Fight Night headliner in Seattle. The 29-year-old mixed martial artist stopped the former two-time UFC champion Adesanya, 36, at 4:18 of the second round to cap the night.
In a post-win exchange with the press, Pyfer reflected on a major moment before the takedown. “Were you surprised when [Adesanya] finally switched it up and decided to exchange the pocket with you like that?” a reporter asked.
Pyfer replied, “No, because I kind of gave him a look ‘Oh that calf kick really hurt’ and it was kind of intentional but unintentional. Because the second [Adesanya] thought he smelled blood in the water, I was like ‘alright, let him come to me. Because I’m trying to get to him, right? And he’s moving, moving, moving… so I was like tired of chasing him.”
“And he can’t kick me,” Pyfer noted, adding that when Adesanya “started coming towards me, I was like ‘I’m going to just let it go, and you saw, you can’t take shots from me like that,” Pyfer concluded.
At another point during the interview, Pyfer thanked God for giving him the opportunity as he reflected on his renewed devotion, during which he also referenced Adesanya, saying his opponent also “gave him that opportunity.”
Meanwhile, Adesanya (24–6 MMA), based in New Zealand, says he has no plans to retire despite not having won a fight since reclaiming the middleweight title in April 2023 at UFC 287. “I’m just going to keep going and going and going,” Adesanya said.