Defiant Israel Adesanya refuses to retire after UFC Seattle loss: ‘You’ll never stop me!’
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MARCH 28: (L-R) Israel Adesanya, referee Herb Dean, and Joe Pyfer wait for the formal announcement after their UFC middleweight bout during UFC Fight Night at Climate Pledge Arena on March 28, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images) | Getty Images Following his fourth loss in a row to Joe Pyfer at UFC Seattle, it’s safe to say Israel Adesanya isn’t just skidding, his career has crashed hard into a concrete wall. But after the 2nd round TKO, Adesanya defiantly declared he wasn’t going anywhere.
Adesanya was looking good through the first round and a half of the fight, if a bit sloppy with his defenses. Pyfer landed numerous big blows on “The Last Stylebender,” who reacted calmly enough and stuck to a gameplan of peppering shots and nasty calf kicks. But halfway through the second round, Adesanya went from picking his shots to brawling, and Pyfer landed the bigger shots.
The Philly native then took Izzy down and went from mount to back control before flattening Adesanya and pounding him out (watch the highlights here). Daniel Cormier asked Adesanya about the shift in strategy that led to his downfall. "I'm not f***ing leaving… I might get beaten, but I will always remain undefeated.
" 📺 @paramountplus pic. twitter. com/p4lUKtz7kJ — UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) March 29, 2026 “I said before coming into this fight, it’s been 13 months,” he replied.
“I wanted to feel like I’d been in a fight, and he gave me just that. So like I said to him at the weigh-ins, they gave me a shot, now it’s my turn to give him a shot. And he earned it.