MMA Junkie has published opening odds and a what-to-know primer for Joe Pyfer vs. Bo Nickal at UFC 335, which means the books have put a price on one of the more interesting middleweight pairings on the schedule. Go there for the exact numbers. My job is to tell you what each man is carrying into this fight and whether the early money is likely to be chasing something real.
On Pyfer’s side, the answer is easy to find. In March, in Seattle, he stopped Israel Adesanya in Round 2. MMA Mania described it plainly as Adesanya getting pounded out. That was the biggest win of Pyfer’s career by name value.
What that Adesanya win actually measures
The win needs some context before anyone treats it as proof of anything. The Pyfer fight was Adesanya’s fourth straight loss, and the three most recent defeats all came inside the distance. Before Pyfer, Nassourdine Imavov flash knocked him out, and Dricus du Plessis also finished him. Adesanya’s last win came in 2023, when he knocked out Alex Pereira in their rematch. MMA Fighting notes he’s 37 with more than 16 years of professional combat sports behind him.
Adesanya spent this week on his YouTube channel alongside training partner Alexander Volkanovski, talking about what retirement might look like. He didn’t give a timeline, but he was firm about the ending once it arrives.
“I never want to be that guy, so once I’m done, I’m f*cking done,” Adesanya said.
Bloody Elbow reported that he has left City Kickboxing and is now training with Volkanovski in Sydney. The outlet also says it has been rumored for months that Shara Magomedov is his next opponent. Nothing has been announced.
Nickal’s side of the ledger is thinner in what I’ve got in front of me today. The material available to me doesn’t lay out his recent results, and I’m not going to invent a record to fill the space. Read the MMA Junkie piece for his résumé and the opening price next to his name.
Sal’s take
This is the kind of fight where the public bets the most recent highlight, and Pyfer owns the most recent highlight. Finishing a former two-time champion plays great on social media. It also tells you less than it looks like it does. Adesanya was 37 and had already lost three straight, two of them by stoppage, before he ever touched gloves with Pyfer. Beating that version of Adesanya is a fine win. It isn’t a fair way to grade a man against a fresh opponent, and pricing Pyfer off one clip is how I once ended up holding a ticket on a 37-year-old because I remembered his 2019 tape. (That ticket lives in a drawer now, next to my dignity.) Watch the line between now and fight week. If Pyfer’s number gets shorter on Adesanya hype alone, with no new information behind it, that move is the story, and the value starts drifting toward Nickal’s side of the board.
