Joe Pyfer has received flak for comments made earlier this year where he referred to Mexico as a s***hole, and he has recently offered up some clarification on those words. The rising middleweight contender spoke with MMA Junkie at UFC X Radio Row and addressed some frustrations that seemed to exist within him in the wake of Pyfer’s victory over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 316 in June.
Pyfer was initially supposed to fight Kelvin Gastelum in late March in Mexico City, though. But an illness that Pyfer blamed on travel-related issues in Mexico led to his withdrawal from the bout where he then made the inflammatory comments about the country. While explaining what went into those heated words toward Mexico from Q1 of 2025, Pyfer said,
“I want to clarify: I didn’t misspeak. I didn’t say anything about Mexican people. It was not towards the people—it was towards, as an athlete, fighting in a country where there’s terrible elevation, terrible air pollution, and then obviously the bacteria issue with food or water that you’re not used to. As an athlete, why would we take the risk with so much on the line to go out to a country where it’s a very catastrophic loss if you get sick?”
“Could I have worded it differently and should I have worded it differently? Yes, I should have. But when you’re emotionally charged and you’re hurt and heartbroken, and everybody’s kicking you when you’re down, yeah, I’m going to have something nasty to say. I don’t have any problem with Mexicans. I don’t have any problem with any race of people. I will not be going back to that country to fight.”
Joe Pyfer sounds off on being omitted from the uFC rankings
Joe Pyfer figured he would be part of the top fifteen of the UFC’s 185-pound hierarchy following his victory over the former interim title challenger/ UFC Hall of Fame fighter, but alas that was not the case in the latest rankings update. Pyfer seemed frustrated that the UFC has not been giving him ranked opposition and called for someone in the top fifteen next.
Pyfer mentioned he was eyeing either September or October for a return to the cage while mentioning that he would not be calling for a specific opponent because “UFC doesn’t care what I want” which he also stated in the same referenced interview with MMA Junkie.
