Top middleweight prospect Joe Pyfer earned his way back into the win column with a stunning knockout win in the UFC 303 featured prelim.
The hard-hitting Pennsylvania native suffered his first defeat under the UFC banner against Jack Hermansson back in February. He quickly returned to action, and within just 90 seconds had viciously stopped Marc-Andre Barriault in his first fight back.
Pyfer infamously broke the UFC Performance Institute’s record on the PowerKube punch machine, despite not officially being given the record. And that power was on full display Saturday night as he vleft Barriault face-planted after just over a minute.
- UNPRECEDENTED: New UFC 303 co-main event announced midway through the card
Joe Pyfer returns to winning ways with stunning KO at UFC 303
After a rapid rise through the middleweight ranks following his 2022 Contender Series contract win, Joe Pyfer’s hype was significantly hurt by his recent defeat to Hermansson. However, he showed his mettle with an impressive showing in his comeback.
He was favoured to beat the Canadian, who was coming off a loss of his own against Chris Curtis. But nobody expected it to come in the way it did, with Pyfer instantly taking control of the cage and showing his dominance with a flurry of punches.
With just over a minute on the clock, he added yet another knockout to his highlight reel as he dropped his rival with an overhand. One more punch on the way down saw him send Barriault down face first to the canvas and earn his way back into serious discussions in the division.
Joe Pyfer calls out Paul Craig for next UFC fight
Speaking with Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview, it was hard for Pyfer to keep his excitement in check as he geed up the crowd. He stumbled over his words on a number of occasions as he demanded his hype return, and called out veteran Paul Craig for a comeback of his own later this year.
“I had a chip on my shoulder, Jack [Hermansson] was the better man 100 per cent,” Pyfer admitted. “I didn’t have the best camp, no excuses, he beat me. But I know what I’m capable of, Joe, and I even had an allergic reaction before I came to this fight.
“I had to get on some medicine to calm it all down, I had rashes everywhere but I still show up and I still fight. I’m coming here to bang, I told you I ain’t scared of nobody, Paul Craig, come see me in Fall, baby, let’s go!”
Joe Pyfer unofficially broke Francis Ngannou’s punch machine record at UFC PI
Perhaps one of the most famous moments in Pyfer’s UFC career came outside of the octagon in the Performance Institute. After rumours of his incredible high scores on the PowerKube machine, he revealed footage showing himself outscoring the famed Francis Ngannou punch from 2018.
As a middleweight, many didn’t believe when his teammate Sean Brady detailed how he had punched ‘harder’ than the lineal heavyweight champion. But he later shared footage of himself scoring a whopping 170,218 units, or over 31 per cent harder than Ngannou’s 129,161.
The feat was, however, quickly overtaken on a number of occasions. First, light-heavyweight and middleweight champion Alex Pereira landed 191,796 before former ‘World’s Strongest Man’ winner Eddie Hall hit 208,901.
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