Joe Pyfer’s UFC career has been impressive thus far. The Pennsylvania product signed with the UFC in 2022 after competing on Dana White’s Contender Series and has since secured two first-round knockouts to remain undefeated. Pyfer’s triumph against the division’s all-time submission leader, Gerald Meerschaert, at UFC 287 established him as one of the most promising competitors at 185 pounds. While the question now is what’s next for Pyfer, he isn’t in a hurry to take on fighters with numbers next to their names in the UFC rankings.

Pyfer recently turned down an opportunity to fight top 15 ranked middleweight Nassourdine Imavov, citing a few reasons such as nursing injuries related to his latest fight camp, inadequate time to cut weight down to the middleweight limit in a healthy manner, and wanting to be financially ready before taking on tougher opponents in his career. Besides, Pyfer believes he has unique qualities that can shape his fighting style in the image of Jorge Masvidal, Izzy Adesanya, or Jon Jones.

Joe Pyfer’s journey to the UFC is as remarkable as his UFC career. His story is well-documented, and the forthcoming movie, Journey to the UFC features details of his challenging childhood, homelessness, and the grisly arm injury he suffered in the opening minutes of his first Contender Series tryout. Joe Pyfer proved himself to the world when he beat Meerschaert. But, Pyfer maintains that he is still a nobody in the UFC and has to continue working to achieve his ultimate goal.