Former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is back in action with a main event fight booked against Joe Pyfer at the upcoming UFC Seattle card scheduled for March 28 at the Climate Pledge Arena.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the matchup on Tuesday.
Following a dominant run as champion, Adesanya has fallen on harder times lately with three losses in a row on his record. After avenging a loss to Alex Pereira by delivering a vicious knockout in their rematch, Adesanya dropped his title in a surprising decision to Sean Strickland.
He was then granted an immediate title shot against Dricus du Plessis, who beat Strickland for the belt, but he fell by fourth-round submission in that matchup. Adesanya then suffered his third loss in a row when he was knocked out Nassourdine Imavov back in February 2025.
Now he’ll attempt to get back on track against Pyfer, who enters the fight off three straight wins over Marc-Andre Barriault, Kelvin Gastelum and Abus Magomedov. Pyfer has only tasted defeat in the UFC on one occasion when he dropped a decision to Jack Hermansson but overall he’s gone 6-1 in the octagon with five finishes along the way.
White also announced a previously confirmed flyweight fight between former champion Alexa Grasso and Maycee Barber for the co-main event.
The finalized card and bout order for UFC Seattle have not been announced yet.
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