Joe Pyfer, UFC 303 ceremonial weigh-in Credit: Eddie Law/Cageside Press
One of the most anticipated fights on Saturday’s UFC Mexico City card is off, as Joe Pyfer is out of his bout with Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum.
“Due to illness, Joe Pyfer has been removed from his middleweight bout with Kelvin Gastelum,” the promotion wrote in a statement on their official website. “As a result, this bout has been cancelled from today’s event.”
The nature of Pyfer’s illness has not been disclosed. Both fighters successfully made weight on Friday, despite a plethora of memes and sarcastic posts regarding Gastelum’s history of missing weight and seeing bouts cancelled. In this case, however, the soon-to-be UFC Hall of Famer (in the Fight Wing, for his classic with Israel Adesanya) is not to blame.
Pyfer, 28, is arguably the biggest star to come off the 2022 season of Dana White’s Contender Series (thanks in no small part to Dana White himself, and his “Be Joe Pyfer” catchphrase). He’s now 4-1 under the UFC banner, and was coming off a win over Canadian middleweight Marc-Andre Barriault.
The Gastelum fight was looked upon as a solid step up on competition for Pyfer, whose lone loss in the promotion came to Jack Hermansson.
UFC Mexico City takes place at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico on Saturday, March 29, 2025 with Brandon Moreno and Steve Erceg headlining the event.
