Aljamain Sterling believes that Israel Adesanya no longer shows the same reaction speed he had during his best years. His assessment comes after the defeat suffered by the former middleweight champion against Joe Pyfer in the main event of UFC Seattle, a fight in which at times he seemed to recover sensations with his distance work, the use of the jab and the punishment on his opponent's forward leg.
According to Sterling, one of the clearest differences between the current version of Adesanya and the one that dominated the division during his time as champion is in the reflexes and response time. In his opinion, that detail was especially visible when the fight changed script in the second round. After a start in which he seemed comfortable managing the distance, Adesanya ended up accepting more short trades, a decision that, in Sterling's opinion, played exactly in Joe Pyfer's favor.
Sterling's reading is that Adesanya had a more favorable way to compete if he maintained a strategy based on range control for longer. He understands that, while fighting from the outside, he was doing an effective job and gave the impression of being able to sustain that approach for several rounds. However, by ceasing to prioritize that approach and being more exposed at close range, he allowed the fight to enter the type of terrain that best suited his opponent.
That turn ended up being decisive. Pyfer managed to turn the fight around, damaged Adesanya, brought him to the ground, managed to control him and closed the sequence with ground and pound until forcing a stoppage. Sterling's vision is not only focused on the result, but on what that development reflects on the former champion's competitive moment: less ability to react than before and a version that is less difficult to decipher when he does not impose his distance game.
The text also frames this defeat within a very complicated stage for Adesanya. It is noted that, since his victory in the rematch against Alex Pereira in 2022, his career has been steadily losing strength. In addition, it is stressed that he has accumulated four consecutive defeats and that the three most recent came before the limit. Overall, Sterling's opinion points to a clear idea: beyond the name and the legacy built, the fighter who dominated the category with authority no longer seems to keep intact several of the tools that marked his best version.