Former UFC champion Aljamain Sterling has given his thoughts on the recent four-fight losing streak of Israel Adesanya.
Last weekend, Israel Adesanya fell to his fourth straight defeat in mixed martial arts when he was beaten via TKO at the hands of Joe Pyfer. It served as his third straight loss via finish, and it left many wondering whether or not he should be considering retirement.
Israel Adesanya himself came out and said that he isn’t going to be contemplating retirement right now, but there are obviously still some natural concerns.
In a recent video, Aljamain Sterling became the latest fighter to give his thoughts on what’s going on with Israel Adesanya.
Aljamain Sterling on Israel Adesanya’s losing skid
“Izzy, he’s just always winning these fights and then somehow, he just ends up not,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “He can still compete. There’s definitely a couple of things about Izzy that I think has changed. 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 don’t want to take anything away from Joe Pyfer. I thought he fought well. He had a rough start, was able to draw Izzy into fighting his style of fight, and once he did that, he was able to get his hands on him to take him down and put on the finishing touches to get him out of there.
“I mean, he’s the bigger, stronger guy. Izzy did a good job of defending. 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 if he had the cardio to do it, but for some reason, he decided to switch and stand in there and trade with him a little bit.
“The range went from being on the outside to really, really close – exactly where Pyfer needed him. A couple of big shots that he evaded, but I thought Izzy looked really good in the first round until the second.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
