Joseph
Pyfer foresees a changing of the guard in his upcoming clash
with Jack
Hermansson.
Advertisement
Rising middleweight prospect Pyfer (12-2) is brimming with
confidence going into the first main event assignment of his UFC
career against promotional veteran Hermansson (23-8) on Feb. 10.
Pyfer, who broke his arm during a
Dana White’s Contender Series appearance in 2020, claims that
most of his confidence stems from staying injury-free. “Bodybagz” recently said on The MMA Hour:
“A lot of my issues are injuries man. F***ing since 24 years old
I’ve just been injury prone. And sometimes things get to my head or
they affect my training and preparation. It doesn’t stop me, I’ll
just bite through the pain sometimes but it’s like man, at a
certain point I’m gonna hurt myself again real bad. So you know,
I’ve been trying to take care of my body, take care of my
health.”
That aside, Pyfer also doesn’t think his upcoming opponent is great
in any particular aspect of the sport. While Pyfer is prepared for
a five-rounder in acknowledgement of Hermansson’s grit and cardio,
he believes he can finish the fight by punishing “The Joker” for a
defensive lapse. The 27-year-old added:
“I would say against Jack, I don’t think his boxing is all that
good. I think he’s a tough guy, he’s got grit, he’s got grit more
than anything. He’s kind of awkward, kind of throws sloppy ass
combinations. You know I don’t think he does anything great but
he’s a tough guy everywhere. And you get caught trailing behind
him, he just pulls away, he’s got good cardio. So I think my
biggest fight for this is gonna be understanding that I gotta be
prepared for 25 minutes. I don’t think it’s gonna go 25 minutes. I
think I’m too powerful, I’m too fast. I think that’s what excites
me about it. I think I can catch him inside of his
recklessness.”
Pyfer is has finished all three of his UFC fights so far and is
coming off a submission win over Abdul
Razak Alhassan last month. Meanwhile, Hermansson has alternated
wins and losses since 2019, with his most recent appearance coming
last December, when he suffered a TKO at the hands of Roman
Dolidze.
UFC Fight Night “Hermansson vs. Pyfer” is scheduled to take place
on Feb. 10 at the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. While the card has yet
to be finalized, confirmed bouts include the Hermansson-Pyfer
middleweight headliner, another high-stakes middleweight clash
between Gregory
Rodrigues and Brad
Tavares, and a matchup between strawweight strikers Konklak
“Loma Lookboonmee” Suphisara and Bruna
Brasil.