American middleweight UFC fighter Joe Pyfer credited his Nigerian-New Zealand counterpart Israel Adesanya with giving him the opportunity to win Saturday’s UFC Fight Night headliner in Seattle.
The 29-year-old mixed martial artist stopped former two-time UFC champion Adesanya, 36, at 4:18 of the second round to end the night.
Speaking to the press after the win, Pyfer reflected on a key moment before the takedown.
‘Were you surprised then? [Adesanya] I finally turned it around and decided to swap the bag with you like that?” a reporter asked.
Pyfer responded, “No, because I kind of looked at him, ‘Oh, that calf kick really hurt,’ and it was kind of intentional but unintentional. Because the second [Adesanya] I thought he smelled blood in the water, I thought, ‘Okay, let him come to me. Because I’m trying to reach him, right? and he moves, moves, moves… so I got tired of chasing him.”
“And he can’t kick me,” Pyfer noted, adding that when Adesanya “came at me, I was like, ‘I’m just going to let it go, and you saw, you can’t take shots at 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 commitment, also referencing Adesanya and saying his opponent also “gave him that opportunity.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand-based Adesanya (24-6 MMA) says he has no plans to retire despite not winning a fight since regaining the middleweight title at UFC 287 in April 2023.
“I just keep going and going and going,” Adesanya said.
