Joe Pyfer headlines UFC Seattle this Saturday against the fighter he believes to be the greatest middleweight of all time.
“Bodybagz” made it clear at media day on Wednesday that when it comes to ranking the best to ever compete at 185 pounds, he ranks his upcoming opponent Israel Adesanya over beloved legend Anderson Silva. Both Adesanya and Silva had impressive reigns atop the middleweight division, with Silva the consensus answer for divisional GOAT before Adesanya made his UFC debut in 2018.
Ahead
of his second main event opportunity, Pyfer spoke glowingly of Adesanya’s accomplishments.
“He’s the greatest middleweight of all time in my opinion,” Pyfer said. “It’s a great opportunity. It’s a great privilege to be able to do what I do and be able to say that I fought one of the best in the world, so I really look at this as a win-win. I’m honored that I got this opportunity. Could have been anybody else, but it’s me.”
Silva reigned as UFC middleweight champion from 2006 to 2013 and won his first 16 fights in the promotion before a loss to Chris Weidman and a gruesome leg injury in their rematch signaled his decline. His spectacular run included 10 consecutive successful title defenses, trailing only flyweight star Demetrious Johnson (11) for the most in UFC history.
Adesanya became the undisputed middleweight champion with a knockout of Robert Whittaker in 2019, and rattled off five title defenses before dropping the belt to longtime rival Alex Pereira. They immediately ran it back and Adesanya flattened Pereira to become a two-time champion. Adesanya also holds a win over Silva from when they headlined UFC 234.
While Pyfer has high praise for both fighters, he believes Adesanya’s more recent success adds more weight to his résumé.
“I just think if you look at Anderson Silva, who was also one of the best, I think the modern era of the MMA fighter is now and from year-to-date I think Israel has beaten the more complete MMA fighters,” Pyfer said. “Just the way that he did it, I think he was so dominant. Obviously, Anderson Silva was, but no disrespect to guys like Stephon Bonnar or Forrest Griffin or Rich Franklin but they weren’t at the level that I think MMA fighters are today, so that’s why I tip the cap to Israel as the greatest middleweight of all time.”
Both Silva and Adesanya struggled to find their form when their championship runs ended. Silva saw a comeback win over Nick Diaz overturned to a no-contest when he tested positive for banned substances and ended his MMA career in 2020 with just one win in his past six fights, while Adesanya is on a career-worst three-fight skid having not won since defeating Pereira three years ago.
Still, Pyfer refuses to buy into the idea that Adesanya’s losing streak is any indication that he’s not a dangerous opponent.
“I know everybody’s like, ‘Hey, he lost four of his last five,’ but three of his three-fight skid is literally No. 1, I think it’s [Nassourdine] Imavov, No. 2 is ‘DDP’ [Dricus du Plessis], and then what, No. 3 is [Sean] Strickland. All three of the guys that he lost to are still above him and he’s No. 4 now, so give the guy some grace.
“He’s done a lot in this sport. I’m not going to sit there and pretend like that’s motivation for me because he’s on a three-fight—It’s a record. I don’t care about his record. As far as I’m concerned, I’m 0-0 against him. He hasn’t beat me, I haven’t beat him. This is a totally different fight, totally different challenge, and the reason I believe that that is true is because I have an equalizer in both of my hands that God has given me a gift that I can beat any man on any given night, just don’t get clipped. So I don’t make too much of his losses, I think he’s still one of the best.”
