Outside Source
Adesanya (24-6) took on Joe Pyfer in the main event at UFC Seattle on Saturday. “The Last Stylebender” briefly looked his old self, chopping away at Pyfer’s lead leg and maintaining distance with his jab. Adesanya’s shots even seemingly started affecting Pyfer in the second round until things drastically turned around. Pyfer hurt Adesanya, took him down, flattened him out, and unleashed vicious ground-and-pound to secure a stoppage win.
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Sterling believes Adesanya is not the same as he was when on a stellar run, defending the middleweight title five times. “Funkmaster” primarily noticed Adesanya’s reaction time slowing down compared to his older self. Sterling notes that Adesanya suddenly chose to stand and trade with Pyfer in the second round instead of being his usual elusive self. Sterling believes Adesanya could have won if he controlled the range for five rounds instead of engaging in the pocket.
A Switch in Strategy
“There’s definitely a couple of things about Izzy that has changed,” Sterling said on YouTube. “One of those, I think is the main thing that sticks out to me is the reflexes. I just don’t think his reaction time is quite the same as it used to be as sharp… I thought if he kept it at range, which he was doing really well in the first round, I thought he could have honestly done that for five…For some reason, he decided to switch and stand in there and trade with him a little bit… exactly where Pyfer needed him.”
Adesanya’s career has been on a steady decline since his iconic title win in his rematch with Alex Pereira in 2022. The 36-year-old has since lost four straight outings, the last three via stoppage.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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