This past weekend, Joe Pyfer stopped Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC Seattle. It was Adesanya’s fourth consecutive loss, and third by stoppage, in the worst run of his combat sports career.
So, let’s talk about what comes next for “The Last Stylebender.”
Let’s say Izzy forgoes the common sense sentiment the fans have for him, that being to retire before he takes even more unnecessary damage, what advice would you give for him to potentially get back on track? Or he is done beyond the possibility of getting back on track?
This may be harsh, but at times like this, harshness is required: There is no getting back on track for Israel Adesanya.
Adesanya is 36 years old and has been fighting professionally for 16 years. In that time, he has 116 professional fights across MMA, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and boxing. Simply put, that is an enormous amount of mileage. Too much. And it’s a shame that Adesanya and his team do not seem to understand that.
It makes sense, though. Fighters are pathologically confident by nature. It’s almost a requirement to reach the heights of combat sports, the ability to reject most logic and reason, and persist. And after all, it’s not like Adesanya looked bad before Pyfer finished him; in fact, he was winning the fight. But that’s the thing — he was winning all these fights.
Against Pyfer, Adesanya was winning until he lost. Against Nassourdine Imavov, Adesanya was winning until he lost. Against Dricus du Plessis, Adesanya was winning until he lost. And against Sean Strickland, Adesanya was winning until he got dropped, and then lost.
Adesanya is not the most unlucky man alive; this is a pattern. And it’s not even a unique one. This is the pattern that befalls great fighters when they age. The margin for error in MMA is infinitesimally small in general, and when you age, it shrinks further. Adesanya can’t take damage the same way he used to, meaning he can’t take damage at all. And, to paraphrase Avon Barksdale, how are you never going to be slow, never be late? You can’t. So, sure, Adesanya can look good. But eventually, he’ll mess up. And then it’s the same story over again.
Now, if both Adesanya and the UFC were willing to dramatically change how they view “The Last Stylebender,” then yes, he can still get wins. But that’s not how the UFC works. Adesanya isn’t going to get a massive step back in opposition, so he’s just going to slowly slide down the rankings until he finally hangs it up. And that’s a shame. Especially when the answer is so obvious.
If Adesanya wants to have a fighting future where he does have some success, it’s outside of the UFC and outside of MMA. Take a lesson from Anderson Silva (who won one of his final 9 fights in the UFC, and that was not a good decision) and move on to other combat sports. Because while you won’t get a soft hand in the UFC, there are plenty of options on the boxing circuit that could work. Jake Paul would obviously be the biggest payday (and honestly, kind of interesting), but matchups with Nate Diaz or Anderson Silva would draw interest and give him a chance to win fights that feel significant. And right now, they’re still viable. But a few more KO losses in the UFC, and even that wanes.
Get out now, Izzy. It’s the perfect time.
With UFC not being much fun recently (this past event being a rare exception), I’ve been going back to some old podcasts that remind me why this sport can be worth following. The UFC 293 (Izzy vs Strickland) post fight show is a classic that still makes me laugh. With the power of hindsight though, had Izzy already fallen off and does that result still feel as incredulous as it did at the time?
I think this is the clear demarcation line for where we will think of Adesanya falling off, even if the truth is probably earlier. Because that’s how it is with great fighters, their greatness makes it hard to pinpoint exactly when they declined, so we’re left with pointing out when that decline bit them.
Look at Anderson Silva. The end of “The Spider” officially started with Chris Weidman, but if you go back and watch the fights, you can tell that Anderson was already starting to lose his fastball way back at the Demian Maia fight — he became more hesitant to pull the trigger, more content to coast to wins. Now, Anderson was so great that he continued to reign for years after that, but that was all probably after his peak.
For Adesanya, I think you can make a strong argument that the first Alex Pereira fight (in MMA) was the start of his decline, and his victory in the rematch was the last hurrah, but I’d argue it’s even further back than that: the Jared Cannonier fight. That was probably the most tepid, risk-averse Adesanya we’ve ever seen, and in hindsight, it seems like that’s when he dropped off slightly, slowly declining until Strickland put the definitive stamp on things at UFC 293.
Arman has performed an incredible faceturn this year. What MMA character – fighter or otherwise – has had the biggest faceturn of all time in your opinion?
First off, credit to Arman Tsarukyan for turning the franchise around. Last year, the man was persona non grata with the UFC, and now he’s one of the biggest stars in the sport. That’s how you do it, folks.
But to answer your question, I think it’s Michael Bisping.
People forget how much of a (redacted) Bisping was for most of his career. He was this terrible mix of abrasive and arrogant, but relatively unaccomplished. Plus, he had the stink of “the UFC is really trying to make fetch happen,” but every time he got in position, he’d lose. It was like Paddy Pimblett mixed with Ian Machado Garry. There’s a reason people loved Dan Henderson’s H-Bomb so much.
But then, kind of amazingly, he turned it all around. Some of it can probably be attributed to simply growing up. Most of us are annoying when we’re young, and then we mellow as we age. Bisping certainly has (though he’s kept some edge), and that, plus moving into commentary, made him more tolerable. But mostly, it’s his story.
In 9 out of 10 lifetimes, Bisping ends up as a cautionary tale: the guy who was supposed to lead British MMA to the forefront, but never got over the hump. It looked for all the world like that was going to happen in this lifetime, but then, when it seemed like the moment had passed him by, he got a lucky break, stepped in on short notice, and won the middleweight title. It was like a Disney movie. And after you have something like that, how can people hate you?
Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who sent in questions. Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send them to me. Every Sunday (sometimes I forget and it happens on Monday), I’ll put out a call for questions on The Feed. Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane; just drop your questions in there and let’s have fun.
Read the full article here
