MMA opinion: Five pathways ahead for Israel Adesanya after tough loss

Saturday night saw the former middleweight king Israel Adesanya fall to a fourth-consecutive loss after his defeat to American Joe Pyfer. 

Fans, critics and even the man himself have mentioned retirement, but after an impassioned post-fight interview, the stage looks set for Adesanya to find his way back into the cage. 
Sports News Blitz writer Freddie Thomas-Neher takes a closer look at how ‘The Last Stylebender’ can move forward.

Wait for the duck to break 

Four losses: two knockouts consecutively, a submission in a title fight and a lopsided decision as a heavy favourite. 

You wouldn’t think that Adesanya has actually been winning his last three fights before being stopped. 

The Last Stylebender was up a round to both Nassourdine Imavov and Pyfer before being knocked out and, with his confidence deflated, it does seem as though part of his issue here is simply that he is not as careful as he used to be. 
He also found himself up two rounds to one against Dricus du Plessis, a title shot at UFC 276 that many argued he didn’t even deserve. 

The former champion was unable to defend the takedown against Pyfer, similarly to his clunky defence of Du Plessis’ attempts, which culminated in his career-first submission loss.

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Recent struggles 

He faced heavy criticism for failing to allow himself to recover from an eye poke against Imavov, rejecting recovery time and effectively walking into a knockout, blinded by his own choices. 

The question remains that if Adesanya could indeed be a bit smarter, perhaps nipping back to his leg kicking days, circa Jared Cannonier, a win is a very realistic prospect against a high-level opponent. 

Takedown defence was a strong suit for the kickboxer before it appears his confidence has taken a hit, which could simply indicate an area in need of some work in camp. 

Finding himself back to winning ways at similar levels seems in reach for Adesanya, but the highlight-chasing approach that he has faced criticism for in his previous bouts (some accused him of attempting to replicate rival Alex Pereira’s low blow no-sell against Jamahal Hill before the knockout against Imavov) will need to take a backseat for a more cautious style. 

Start from the bottom 

The classic ‘tune-up’ fight has no shame in it and could set the Last Stylebender on the path to a championship. 

The UFC has a tendency to feed their former superstars to up-and-coming prospects when their shelf life expires, but to varying degrees of success. 

It’s not out of the question for Adesanya’s next fight to be an unranked prospect (e.g. a Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov or Ateba Gautier) who seems to be gaining a bit of traction. 

Experience will need to be the name of the game in this instance; Adesanya is a veteran of 12 UFC title fights and must show it, despite a clear difference in momentum. 

A prospect being fed to the former middleweight king (or, if the UFC get their way, a different result wouldn’t be out of the question either) could be a firestarter for a late-career surge to the top for Adesanya, who just has not been the same since his rematch win against Alex Pereira. 

Veterans have found their way to championship gold many times in recent years - Glover Teixeira was 42 when he defeated Jan Blachowicz at UFC 267, and Blachowicz (infamously the man who stood between Adesanya and two-weight champion status) was almost 38 when he won the belt himself. 

The good-old-fashioned approach of ‘turn it off and on again’ could be the way ahead for Adesanya and building confidence this late in the career of the middleweight great paves the way for a much more favourable farewell than if the murderers row of opponents continues. 

Move up a weight class

‘Drained, crooked-nosed and skeletal’ were just some of the terms that faced Israel Adesanya as he took to the scales on Friday.

With the New Zealander hitting the ripe age of 37 in July, the question beckons as to whether the weight cut is plausible going forward. 

Adesanya has previously fought at light heavyweight for his unsuccessful shot at capturing gold against the aforementioned Blachowicz, and has been billed as a pretty sizable middleweight for his entire career. 

Former opponent Pereira moved from middleweight to light heavyweight after Adesanya removed him from consciousness in April 2023, but the move represented a complete shift in fortunes for Poatan, whose reign at 205 will go down in history as one of the most impressive. 

Familiar face Robert Whittaker, who has been seen training alongside Adesanya, has also fallen on hard times at middleweight and is taking the trip up to 205. 

‘If Pereira can do it, why can’t I?’ is a question that has probably been quite a bad idea to revisit so much in Adesanya’s career (again, see the self-inflicted blindwalking KO against Nassourdine Imavov)

But with times growing ever tougher at 185 and the clock working against him, it could be time to pack up and jump ship. 

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Return to kickboxing

A loss to Dricus du Plessis and a 1-5 in their last six is a familiar concept - English middleweight Darren Till left the UFC in 2023 after believing his body could no longer take it. 

Knee injuries in abundance and a deficiency on the ground left Till scrambling for legitimacy in a division that seemed to have moved on, and a move to a more striking-focused profession was nothing short of a home run. 

Till has not lost since after fighting four times in boxing, defeating former UFC standouts Darren Stewart and former middleweight king Luke Rockhold as part of Misfits Boxing. 

He has formed a reputation for his sharp, levelled-up striking and the career change has been a massively revitalising step. 

Adesanya is 80-6 across kickboxing and boxing, and a similar career shift could be even more beneficial to the former champion, who has not fought outside of MMA since 2017. 

Despite back-to-back knockouts, Adesanya’s quality on the feet is still unshakeable and a move back to his original sport could bring the career-end that he deserves.

Inevitable retirement

With all other options considered, the looming inevitability that this could (and possibly should) be the last time we see The Last Stylebender grace the Octagon needs to be considered. 

Health concerns will be arising considering Adesanya has been a combat sports competitor since he was just 18, and the high-level kill-or-be-killed nature of the sport will not forgive, even for a legend of his calibre. 

His loss to Pyfer was quite a damning one; he was left flat on the ground, faintly kicking in the hope that the fight wouldn’t be stopped and that he could mount some kind of dramatic comeback. 

MMA is an unforgiving industry and the chances of Adesanya facing an easy road to go out on top are pretty low. 

For such a high-level competitor these kinds of losses will be immensely debilitating and at the age the former champion is approaching, it could simply be time to put health first and take the gloves off once and for all.

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