Former two-time champion loses his fourth straight bout after being stopped by Pyfer in the second round.By ReutersPublished On 29 Mar 202629 Mar 2026Joe Pyfer sent former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Israel Adesanya back to the drawing board in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night headliner in Seattle, stopping Adesanya at 4:18 of the second round to cap the night.Before the technical knockout (TKO) finish, both fighters exchanged their best punches in a stand-up battle until a Pyfer (16-3 MMA) takedown signalled the beginning of the end.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“I just have this mentality where I don’t care; I’m going to search and destroy,” Pyfer said, following the stoppage, securing the finish in top control.Adesanya (24-6 MMA), fighting out of New Zealand, has not won a bout since regaining middleweight gold in April 2023 at UFC 287, and confirmed he has no plans to retire.“I’m just going to keep going and going and going,” Adesanya said. Pyfer, left, delivers a right-hand punch to Adesanya [Steven Bisig/Imagn Images via Reuters]Grasso dominates Barber in rematchA rematch five years in the making commenced at flyweight as former champion Alexa Grasso made short work of Maycee Barber with a TKO stoppage at 2:42 of the opening round. The Mexican used a left hook to down Barber before jumping on top of her immediately as the referee stepped in.The two first met in February 2021, with Grasso earning a decision. Grasso (17-5-1 MMA) snapped a two-fight losing skid, whereas Barber (15-3 MMA) had not lost since the first meeting with Grasso, having won her previous seven fights.In his final MMA fight, welterweight Michael Chiesa (20-7 MMA) had a hometown send-off as he submitted Niko Price (16-11 MMA) with a first-round rear-naked choke. Chiesa needed just 63 seconds to put a bow on his UFC career, one that spanned a decade-plus and included winning the 15th season of The Ultimate Fighter in June 2012. Advertisement Chiesa ended his UFC career at 15-7, …
