Israel Adesanya set for UFC return as former champion bids to stop three-fight slip

Israel Adesanya will return to the cage at the end of March as the former two-time UFC middleweight champion bids to get back in the win column against Joe Pyfer after a three-fight slip.

Adesanya (24-5, 16 KOs) is one of the UFC’s most recognisable fighters but has slipped down the 185lb rankings after a run of just one win in five bouts since late 2022.

“The Last Stylebender” suffered a damning second-round knockout to French contender Nassourdine Imavov last February and has not fought since.

The 36-year-old will now get the chance to spark a late-career renaissance when he takes on hard-hitting American Pyfer (13-5, 9 KOs), who has been steadily making his name and now stares down the barrel of his biggest opportunity in the UFC yet.

Pyfer, 29, is vying for his fourth consecutive win in the UFC and comes into the bout off the back of a submission victory over Abus Magomedov on the undercard of UFC 320 in October.

He will face Adesanya in the main event of UFC Seattle on 28 March in what could prove a pivotal bout in deciding the Australian’s fighting future, with murmurs of retirement lingering around Adesanya’s name for the past year.

It will be just the second time Adesanya has fought without gold being on the line since February 2019 after competing in 12 consecutive title matches, successfully defending his middleweight strap six times before being dethroned by Alex Pereira in November 2022.

He won the title back from current light heavyweight champion “Poatan” in the rematch but subsequently lost his next outing to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, before failing in his challenge to Dricus Du Plessis in August 2024.

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Elsewhere on the card for Seattle, former women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso (16-5-1) will renew hostilities with Maycee Barber (15-2).

Grasso is one of only two people to have beaten Barber in her professional career, picking up the unanimous decision win when the pair first clashed in 2021.

The Mexican 32-year-old enjoyed an 18-month long reign at the top of the women’s flyweight division after putting a rare blotch on Valentina Shevchenko’s legacy by dethroning “Bullet”, before clinging onto her title when their first rematch was ruled a draw.

Shevchenko reclaimed the gold in their trilogy outing in September 2024 and Grasso has failed to get back into the win column since, losing her next fight to Natalia Silva.