Joe Pyfer’s response to his loss at
#UFCVegas86 pic.twitter.com/krginPS7PH— MMA Mania (@mmamania)
February 11, 2024
Joe
Pyfer has come a long way since badly dislocating his elbow on
Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2020.
Pyfer recovered from that injury to author a five-bout winning
streak that included three finishes in
UFC competition, a run that led to him to a headlining spot
opposite Jack
Hermansson at
UFC Fight Night 236 on Saturday night. Relying on a stiff jab,
increasingly effective leg kicks and a solid gas tank, Hermansson
derailed Pyfer’s momentum with a unanimous decision triumph at the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The tide truly began to turn in Round 3, when “The Joker” rocked
his opponent with a hard jab. Pyfer admitted that he was never able
to fully recover from that point forward.
“I’m OK, despite how my face looks,” Pyfer said in a video on his
Instagram stories. “I wasn’t rocked. I got punched in the eyeball —
couldn’t see. I did a good job on the calf [kicks]. But I feel like
the eye, when I lost vision, I fell that round. I lost that round
and just couldn’t get it back, and he did a good job on the
calf.”
While the UFC put the majority of its promotional energy behind
Pyfer leading up to the bout, the Pennsylvania native was also
defiant in the face of defeat.
“To all my haters, suck a fat d—k. I wasn’t supposed to be here
anyway,” he said. “I give it 100% every time. We’ll make
adjustments and we’ll come back. Thank you to all my sponsors,
thank you to everybody who supports me, and yeah – good job, Jack.”