“Bodybagz” knows he carries serious power.
No. 14-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight contender Joe Pyfer competes in the biggest fight of his career this weekend (Sat., March 28, 2026), taking on former two-time champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC Seattle inside Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington.
Pyfer isn’t just aiming to win — he wants to make a statement.
The rising contender believes he has the kind of power to do something no one has done to Adesanya
inside the Octagon: knock him out cold. While Alex Pereira and Nassourdine Imavov have both stopped Adesanya, neither truly put him out cold in MMA.
Pyfer thinks he can.
At the same time, he isn’t fully buying into the narrative that Adesanya’s durability is fading.
“I think he’s always had the same chin,” Pyfer told Uncrowned. “If that wasn’t the case, you could go back to when he got flatlined in kickboxing and say he can’t take a punch. But he’s taken shots. Look at the Alex Pereira fight — one of the hardest hitters in the UFC — and he was eating those shots without getting put out with one punch.”
Still, the confidence remains.
“I don’t look too much into it,” Pyfer continued. “But I do think I have the power to flatline him — I just have to get to him. Maybe his chin is gone… only he knows that.”
Despite that belief, Pyfer isn’t planning to play Adesanya’s game even though he “wants to hurt him.”
Rather than engaging in a prolonged striking battle with one of the most decorated strikers in MMA history, Pyfer is focused on making smart decisions and taking the most efficient path to victory.
“I definitely believe I can finish him, but I can’t say exactly how it’s going to go,” Pyfer said. “I’ve had a ton of dreams and visions about it. I know I can knock him out, I know I can submit him, and I know I can go 25 minutes if I need to. It’s just about the decisions I make. I’ve got to stay disciplined and not be overzealous.”
Whether it comes by knockout, submission, or a calculated performance, Pyfer is confident one thing is certain — he has the tools to shock the world.
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