Israel Adesanya’s recent storyline is a slump followed by a comeback attempt : he lost three straight UFC fights in 2023–2025, including a TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov in February 2025, but he has remained active and was scheduled to face Joe Pyfer at UFC Seattle on March 28, 2026.

What changed

  • He lost the UFC middleweight title to Sean Strickland in September 2023.
  • In 2024, he also lost to Dricus du Plessis by submission.
  • In February 2025, he was stopped by Nassourdine Imavov in the second round.
  • Despite that stretch, reports in March 2026 said he was still motivated and preparing to continue his UFC run.

Current picture

Adesanya is still a major middleweight name, and recent coverage placed him at No. 4 in the UFC middleweight rankings as of March 10, 2026. ESPN’s fighter profile also lists him as 24-5-0 and shows his latest loss to Imavov. That means the main “what happened” answer is not that he disappeared, but that he went through the toughest losing stretch of his UFC career and is trying to bounce back.

Extra context

There was also some non-fight news around him in 2024, when he resolved a drink-driving case in New Zealand and avoided prison. That issue was separate from his MMA results, but it added to the sense that his public profile was having a rough patch.

Why people are talking about him

The conversation online is mostly about whether he is in decline or still has one more championship run left. Some coverage framed him as “refreshed” and not done yet, while other reports focused on the fact that he had dropped four of his last five fights by March 2026. In plain terms: he is still relevant, but he has been fighting uphill lately.

tl;dr

Israel Adesanya has been on a bad run lately, with losses to Strickland, du Plessis, and Imavov, but he’s still ranked near the top of the division and was set for another UFC fight in late March 2026.