Israel Adesanya will headline his 13th consecutive UFC event.
After more than a year off, Adesanya will return to fight rising middleweight Joe Pyfer at UFC Fight Night 271 on March 28 from Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle (Paramount+).
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UFC CEO Dana White announced the headliner Tuesday on Instagram Live.
Former middleweight champion Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) is on a three-fight skid, most recently suffering a TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 250 last February. He hasn’t won a fight since knocking out Alex Pereira to reclaim his middleweight title at UFC 287 in April 2023.
Pyfer (15-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) rebounded from his first UFC loss to Jack Hermansson with three wins in a row, two of them by finish. He is coming off a Performance of the Night submission of Abus Magomedov at UFC 320 this past October.
The current UFC Fight Night 271 lineup includes:
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Israel Adesanya vs. Joe Pyfer
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Maycee Barber vs. Alexa Grasso
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Gabriella Fernandes vs. Casey O’Neill
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Marcin Tybura vs. Valter Walker
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Nicolle Caliari vs. Carol Foro
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Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Yousri Belgaroui
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Israel Adesanya returns vs. rising contender in UFC Seattle headliner
