Joe Pyfer has opened up after news came out that he has withdrawn from an anticipated showdown with Kelvin Gastelum just hours before the start of UFC Mexico.
Not long after a video interview was released where Pyfer talked about being in excellent shape for the fight, the UFC announced that the middleweight prospect had fallen ill and would not be competing.
“My heart is broken,” Pyfer said in a statement released on his Instagram Story. “I couldn’t fight today. I got super sick, and hopefully we can reschedule this fight for a few weeks from now.
“Unfortunately comes with the territory of traveling outside the States. Never again. My apologies, guys.”
Pyfer, a Dana White’s Contender Series alumnus, was coming into this fight off an 85-second knockout of Marc-Andre Barriault at UFC 303 last July. The bonus-earning performance came after Pyfer suffered his first Octagon defeat — a decision loss to Jack Hermansson that snapped a five-fight win streak that stretched to just before his second DWCS appearance.
Gastelum was set to come into this fight off a decision win over Daniel Rodriguez in a middleweight bout in Saudi Arabia last June. He has won two of his last three. However, he is just 3-6 stretching back to his legendary UFC 236 battle with Israel Adesanya over the interim middleweight championship.
