UFC Fight Night 271 emanates from the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Saturday, headlined by Israel Adesanya versus Joe Pyfer. 

Adesanya looks to halt his losing streak on the fourth fight since Sean Strickland dethroned him for the UFC Middleweight Championship this in September 2023. He has since been stopped by Dricus Du Plessis in a shot at the title in 2024 and then once more by Nassourdine Imavov in 2025, so this fight against No. 14 ranked Joe Pyfer is a must-win for the two-time champion to remain in contention. 

Pyfer is coming into the fight with a three-fight winning streak, having most recently scored a Performance of the Night winning second-round submission over Abus Magamedov at UFC 320 in 2025. 

Prior to that bout, women’s flyweight contenders Alexa Grasso and Maycee Barber will be fighting to improve upon their respective No. 3 and No. 5 rankings. 19-7 veteran Michael Chiesa will be calling a close to his career hoping to make it his 20th victory in Seattle, fighting Niko Price at welterweight. 

The event will be available to watch for those in the US via Paramount+, as well as UFC Fight Pass and TNT Sports internationally. The prelims are due to begin at 5 PM ET and the main card at 8 PM ET.

Main Card:

• Middleweight: Israel Adesanya vs. Joe Pyfer 
• Flyweight: Alexa Grasso vs. Maycee Barber
• Welterweight: Michael Chiesa vs. Niko Price 
• Featherweight: Julian Erosa vs. Lerryan Douglas 
• Middleweight: Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Yousri Belgaroui
• Lightweight: Terrance McKinney vs. Kyle Nelson

Prelims:

• Lightweight: Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Tofiq Musayev 
• Lightweight: Chase Hooper vs. Lance Gibson Jr. 
• Heavyweight: Marcin Tybura vs. Tyrell Fortune
• Flyweight: Casey O’Neill vs. Gabriella Fernandes 
• Light Heavyweight: Navajo Sterling vs. Bruno Lopes
• Bantamweight: Ricky Simon vs. Adrian Yanez
• Strawweight: Alexia Thainara vs. Bruna Brasil 

One of the biggest behind-the-scenes dramas in WWE as it was coming out of its infamous Attitude Era was the walkout of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin on the company he helped launched into the mainstream. Austin walked out of Vince McMahon’s company after learning he was going to lose a King of the Ring qualifying match to Brock Lesnar, but has since clarified he didn’t want to waste the big match on free television with no build. On a recent episode of “Something to Wrestle,” John Bradshaw Layfield looked back on the time, and said he was shocked that Austin walked out that night and did not come back.

“I didn’t believe that Steve was gone and going to be gone,” he said. “You gotta understand, we got there in ’95, and business was so bad, and all of a sudden, we’re selling out everywhere. That’s the guy that did it. And all of a sudden, he’s gone? You think he’s coming back, absolutely, he’s our guy. He is our guy. So yeah, I was shocked that it didn’t happen.”

JBL said that he would have taken any odds that the conflict would have been fixed between McMahon and Austin within a week or two, or even a few months, at most. He said that McMahon made up with “almost everybody” when it came to business, regardless of his personal feelings.

Austin would return to WWE in 2003 for his final full-time year in the ring. He was brought back thanks to a postcard from “Good Ol’ JR,” Jim Ross, who was head of talent relations at the time.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Something to Wrestle” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Brock Lesnar looked back on his loss to Cain Velasquez and his battle with diverticulitis while with UFC. 

Lesnar opened up on his post-WWE career in MMA – prior to his return in 2012 – during an interview on “Spittin’ Chiclets,” recalling his early career when the UFC wasn’t interested, when he did sign and fights the likes of Frank Mir and Randy Couture to become Heavyweight Champion, but also the losses he sustained towards the end of his run before eventually returning to WWE. 

“I wasn’t ever really scared of anybody,” he said. “But I felt threatened, there’s certain threats… Cain Velasquez, he handed me my a** in Anaheim. But I think, for me, going through diverticulitis really took a lot of fight out of me. I almost died with that disease and afterwards it changed my life and it changed my mentality towards the sport.”

Lesnar lost to Velasquez via knock-out to drop the UFC Heavyweight Championship in October 2010. He returned over a year later having had surgery to treat his diverticulitis, removing 12 inches of his colon, to face Alistair Overeem. That fight ended in round one after Overeem punished the torso of Lesnar, delivering a kick to drop him and punches until the referee called the fight. 

Lesnar retired from MMA and returned to WWE after that fight, save for a one-off return against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in 2016; he won that fight on the night, though the result was overturned to a no-contest after he failed USADA testing. 

Alistair Overeem looked back on his first-round knock out of Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 in 2011, ranking it the most memorable moment of his fighting career. 

Overeem finished his MMA career with a 47-19 (1 NC) record, collecting marquee opponents as one of the most recognizable heavyweights in the sport in his own right. 

One such opponent was former UFC Heavyweight Champion and WWE legend Brock Lesnar, dropping the “Beast Incarnate” into submission with a kick to his surgically repaired mid-section within the first round. He had softened the area with knees and shots to the body, finally catching him with a left kick, Lesnar wincing and dropping to the floor a second or so later as Overeem followed up with punches to the face. 

“I get a lot of response [from the Brock fight,” Overeem told “Uncrowned’s” Tris Dixon. “I think that was a masterpiece. The body shots with the knee, the beautiful setup.”

“Wrestlers are physically strong, but they’re not used to absorbing strikes,” he continued. “I had this sparring partner in my training camp who was exactly like Brock, physically a strong wrestler, actually standing up a little better. And I noticed when I was sparring him… I noticed head strikes that he could absorb… but his body was extremely weak. Just one knee would kind of take him out.”

Overeem said that he formulated his game plan from that observation, head strikes were not going to work. 

“‘I’m going to give him some knees. I’m going to distract him with some punches to the head. I’m going to finish him with the liver kick.’ Which in the Brock fight, turned out excellent,” he said.

Lesnar retired from MMA after his loss to Overeem, returning to WWE in 2012. He did fight a one-off return at UFC 200 in 2016, defeating Mark Hunt, but the result was overturned to a no-contest after he tested positive for PEDs.