Israel Adesanya knows that he is reaching the end of his time in combat sports.
It seems clear that the former two-time UFC middleweight champion has moved past his prime years.
‘Stylebender’ comes into his next fight, set for UFC Seattle on March 28, after losing three straight.
A loss to Joe Pyfer would be a major setback, but it is not going to make Adesanya retire just yet.
How long does Israel Adesanya have left in the Octagon?
Adesanya has suggested that he is planning to fight around 10 more times before calling it a day.
If that is the case, he will need to stay active over the next few years to reach that number.
“Less than 10,” the 36-year-old said on his YouTube channel.
“I know it’s less than 10. It can’t be more than 10. So if I fight now, I fight one more time towards the end of the year, maybe. That’s two fights. If I do two fights a year, next year I can still fight.
“2028 is going to be like, I don’t know yet. I can’t see past 2027. I don’t know. I don’t think that far ahead at the moment. I do glance at it, and I just know I’m on the tail end. I can see the finish line. I’ve been seeing the finish line in the distance, but now it’s closer.”
Israel Adesanya’s initial return plans did not pan out
Adesanya has not stepped into the Octagon since his knockout defeat to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia back in February 2025.
The middleweight icon recently shared that he was originally set to come back on short notice, but an injury in training camp forced him to withdraw before the fight could be confirmed.
“I was going to fight last year, but then I got injured in the gym, and then that opportunity got taken away. It was a short-notice fight as well, and I’ve never done one of those so that would have been exciting,” the former UFC champion revealed.
Adesanya stated that he had five or six weeks’ notice to prepare for that fight against Reinier de Ridder.
The timing lines up with Anthony Hernandez’s withdrawal from his main event against de Ridder at UFC Vancouver last October, suggesting the ‘Stylebender’ was likely being lined up as the replacement.
“That moment got taken away from me, but that’s, in hindsight, the best thing even though I wasn’t happy with it then,” Adesanya reflected.
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