UFC Fight Night 271 was not a good night for former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya. “The Last Stylebender” headlined the card against Joe Pyfer in what was Adesanya’s first fight in nearly 14 months, but he was left laying on the mat as Pyfer scored the TKO victory towards the end of the second round, marking Adesanya’s fourth consecutive loss.Â
Whenever a fighter goes on this sort of losing streak, questions start being raised about whether they should be in the UFC to begin with, but in eyes of the latest UFC Hall of Fame inductee Demetrious Johnson, Adesanya needs to hang up the gloves for good. “I would like to see him retire,” Johnson said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “There’s nothing else for him to do in mixed martial arts. I think he’s done everything, and you’re not even considering the kickboxing matches he’s had as well.”
Johnson explained that when he was an active fighter, money was one of the main motivators for him. He didn’t care how much weight he had to cut, he was going to make weight because he needed to the money, and that when you are broke, you tend to have a different mindset. “Mighty Mouse” explained that Adesanya might have reached the point where he doesn’t need the money, and if that’s the case, what is he even fighting for?
“I’m not saying that now that he has money, his mindset has changed, but he’s fighting somebody else who’s trying to get to his level. So for me, I’m just like, ‘You’ve done everything, just walk away from the sport.’ But I think that’s so hard for any professional athlete.” Going beyond his last four fights, Adesanya has only won one in his last six, as opposed to his first 24 professional MMA bouts, where his sole loss came against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 in March 2021.
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