Farah Hannoun, MMA JunkieWed, January 14, 2026 at 12:18 AM UTC·1 min read

Israel Adesanya will headline his 13th consecutive UFC event.

After more than a year off, Adesanya will return to fight rising middleweight Joe Pyfer at UFC Fight Night 271 on March 28 from Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle (Paramount+).

UFC CEO Dana White announced the headliner Tuesday on Instagram Live.

#UFCSeattle

March 28

Main Event: Israel Adesanya vs. Joe Pyfer

Also on the card:
Alexa Grasso vs. Maycee Barber pic.twitter.com/5LybxGl6Gf

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) January 14, 2026

Former middleweight champion Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) is on a three-fight skid, most recently suffering a TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 250 last February. He hasn't won a fight since knocking out Alex Pereira to reclaim his middleweight title at UFC 287 in April 2023.

Pyfer (15-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) rebounded from his first UFC loss to Jack Hermansson with three wins in a row, two of them by finish. He is coming off a Performance of the Night submission of Abus Magomedov at UFC 320 this past October.

The current UFC Fight Night 271 lineup includes:

Israel Adesanya vs. Joe Pyfer

Maycee Barber vs. Alexa Grasso

Gabriella Fernandes vs. Casey O'Neill

Marcin Tybura vs. Valter Walker

Nicolle Caliari vs. Carol Foro

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Yousri Belgaroui

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Israel Adesanya returns vs. rising contender in UFC Seattle headliner