Israel Adesanya’s next fight is official with the news that he’ll be taking on Joe Pyfer in the main event of UFC Fight Night 271 in Seattle, Washington on March 28th.

It’s been a tough few years for former middleweight champion Adesanya, having lost his last three fights in a row for the first time in his career.

That slump began with a shock title loss against Sean Strickland back at UFC 293 in September of 2023, after unexpectedly coming off second-best for much of the fight en-route to a unanimous decision defeat.

Next up Adesanya found himself going up against Dricus du Plessis the following year in a bid to reclaim the title, only to lose via a 4th round face crank submission.

And most recently in February of last year the 36-year-old Adesanya found himself in a non-title fight for the first time since 2019 when he went up against Nassourdine Imavov, and suffered a TKO loss early in the 2nd round.

11 months later Adesanya will attempt to pick up the pieces when he returns to the Octagon against the 29-year-old Pyfer, who by way of contrast is coming in off a three-fight winning streak.

That run began with a KO finish against Marc-Andre Barriault, which was followed by a unanimous decision victory over Kelvin Gastelum, while most recently in October of last year he stopped Abus Magomedov with a face crank submission.

With an overall UFC record of 6-1 so far, Pyfer now holds the No.15 spot on the middleweight ladder, nine places below the No.6 ranked Adesanya.

Adesanya vs. Pyfer fronts a UFC Fight Night 271 card that will also feature Alex Grasso vs. Maycee Barber and Valter Walker vs. Marcin Tybura.