in

Israel Adesanya: Eye poke hindered focus in loss to Nassourdine Imavov

Israel Adesanya partially blames an eye poke for his loss against Nassourdine Imavov

Adesanya headlined UFC Saudi Arabia against Imavov in February 2025. “The Last Stylebender” was going toe-to-toe against Imavov before abruptly getting finished early in the second round. Adesanya was poked in the eye moments before Imavov landed the finishing sequence. However, the former middleweight champion brushed it aside and immediately resumed the action. 

Advertisement

Adesanya recently revealed that his focus was compromised after getting eye poked. The Nigerian-born Kiwi admits that he should have taken his allotted to compose himself before continuing.

Live and Learn

“The last fight, I got eye poked,” Adesanya told ESPN. “I should have taken my time and reset properly. But I wanted to carry on the work I was doing and not let him get any time to rest. And focus, it just wavers. No matter what level you are, you can never master it. I should have just locked in right there, taken my time, re-centered, reset, and gone back to doing what I was doing. You live and you learn.” 

The loss against Imavov was Adesanya’s third consecutive loss. Adesanya (24-5) is now scheduled to fight Joe Pyfer (15-3) at UFC Seattle on March 28 at the Climate Pledge Arena. Meanwhile, Pyfer is 6-1 in the UFC and riding a three-fight winning streak going into the toughest test of his career to date. 

This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com


Help support MMACrazies.com when you shop Amazon by starting your online Amazon shopping at MMACrazies.com/recommends/amazon. You are not charged extra, but we receive a small and very helpful commission on everything you purchase. Thanks for thinking of us every time you shop at Amazon.

What do you think?

Francis Ngannou wanted to fulfill remainder of PFL contract

Joe Pyfer credits girlfriend, faith for changed philosophy heading into UFC Seattle