UFC fighter Joe Pyfer has confirmed the reason for his forced withdrawal from Saturday’s UFC Mexico main card matchup against Kelvin Gastelum.
The promotion announced the late change just hours before the Fight Night event at Arena CDMX in Mexico City, stating Pyfer had to withdraw due to illness. Shortly after, Pyfer released a statement via his Instagram stories, where he mentioned he will avoid fighting outside of the United States in the future.
“I just want to say I’m heartbroken that I couldn’t fight today,” Pyfer wrote. “I got very sick and hopefully we can reschedule this fight for a few weeks from now. Unfortunately, it comes with traveling outside the states. Never again. My apologies guys. We’ll be back.”
Pyfer’s record inside the octagon is 4 wins and 1 loss, with his only loss against Jack Hermansson in the main event of UFC Vegas 86 in February 2024. The 28-year-old fighter rebounded with an 85-second stoppage victory over Marc-Andre Barriault at UFC 303 this past June.
Gastelum was also scheduled to compete for the first time in nine months. He won against Daniel Rodriguez at UFC Saudi Arabia by decision in his most recent fight.
