Daniel Cormier has stated his belief that Israel Adesanya lost his fight with Joe Pyfer at UFC Fight Night 271 on Saturday night due to poor tactical decision-making in the heat of the battle.

“At the beginning of Round 2, Pyfer is actually getting pieced up by Adesanya,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “His lead leg is destroyed, he hasn’t checked the kicks, so he’s really struggling to even stand. But the moment Adesanya engaged him in the type of fight that he likes, a brawl, where you stand in front of your opponent, and you throw punches, and you go punch for punch, he recognized that his power is greater than almost everyone in this division. And he proved that against Adesanya.”

Despite this being Adesanya’s 4th loss in a row, Cormier has come out in support of the 36-year-old’s decision not to retire after this TKO loss as there were promising signs in his performance, but nonetheless the tactical blunder was disappointing from such a seasoned fighter.

“For Israel Adesanya, I asked him, ‘How do you bounce back after this?’” Cormier said. “He goes, ‘You just keep going.’ People were wondering whether or not, if Adesanya didn’t get the job done tonight, if it would be it, if we had seen the last of The Stylebender. To me, it did not sound like he is remotely done with his UFC career. And honestly, the way that he was fighting, I would encourage him to keep going, because he was fighting really well.

“I will question, and I think Izzy will question, when he gets back to watching this fight, why he chose the path that he did in Round 2. Because he was fighting really well. He fought well in Round 1, he was fighting well in Round 2. But then, for some reason, he decided to say, ‘You know what, shield in the middle, let’s stand on it and let’s trade. When, in reality, that was probably the best way for Pyfer to get a victory. Because then he could reach him.

“Joe was missing with a lot of stuff early. But Izzy then ultimately chose to fight him in a way that gave Joe a chance to do exactly what he did. So, Izzy will have some questions when he goes back and watches this.”

Watch Cormier’s full assessment in the video below.