Aljamain
Sterling doesn’t think Israel
Adesanya is the same fighter he once was.
Adesanya (24-6) took on Joe Pyfer in
the main event at
UFC Seattle on Saturday. “The Last Stylebender” briefly looked
his old self, chopping away at Pyfer’s lead leg and maintaining
distance with his jab. Adesanya’s shots even seemingly started
affecting Pyfer in the second round until things drastically turned
around. Pyfer hurt Adesanya, took him down, flattened him out, and
unleashed vicious ground-and-pound to secure a stoppage
win.
Sterling believes Adesanya is not the same as he was when on a
stellar run, defending the middleweight title five times.
“Funkmaster” primarily noticed Adesanya’s reaction time slowing
down compared to his older self. Sterling notes that Adesanya
suddenly chose to stand and trade with Pyfer in the second round
instead of being his usual elusive self. Sterling believes Adesanya
could have won if he controlled the range for five rounds instead
of engaging in the pocket.
A Switch in Strategy
“There’s definitely a couple of things about Izzy that has
changed,” Sterling said on YouTube. “One of those, I think is the main thing that
sticks out to me is the reflexes. I just don’t think his reaction
time is quite the same as it used to be as sharp… I thought if he
kept it at range, which he was doing really well in the first
round, I thought he could have honestly done that for five…For some
reason, he decided to switch and stand in there and trade with him
a little bit… exactly where Pyfer needed him.”
Adesanya’s career has been on a steady decline since his iconic
title win in his rematch with Alex
Pereira in 2022. The 36-year-old has since lost four straight
outings, the last three via stoppage.