The hype train surrounding UFC middleweight prospect, Joe Pyfer was something truly special. The man they call “Bodybagz” had amassed a 3-0 UFC record after earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. His brash persona, coupled with his incredibly violent fighting style has future star written all over it. On top of this, he was able to break the world record for the hardest punch on the PowerCube, which measures the PSI of any strike thrown at it. He took it from former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Francis N’Gannou. For a fighter who weighs in at 185 pounds to beat the punching power of arguably the greatest power puncher in UFC history, who is a heavyweight and walks around at nearly 300 lbs. is simply preposterous. Here is a video of Pyfer addressing the incident in his usual brash fashion.

With all this being said, he still had yet to break into the UFC rankings and had the chance to against the 15th ranked middleweight contender and division mainstay, Jack Hermansson. Hermansson had not fought since December 2022 and was 2-3 in his last five fights, so many believed that this was a fight that could catapult Pyfer into the rankings.

However, Hermansson showed that the two year layoff he took was not spent sitting on the couch, but spent getting better. His boxing looked as sharp as it has ever been, highlighted by a lethal jab that he used to keep Pyfer at range. Pyfer did realize success in the early going, coming out fast in round one and doing enough to win round three, but as the fight went on, one could see that Pyfer was gassing out quickly. A dominant round four from Hermansson and a round five that was spent taking Pyfer down and holding them there sealed the unanimous decision victory for the Norwegian. UFC welterweight contender Belal Muhammad was posting his thoughts of this fight via X, and saw experience as the deciding factor.

This defeat is far from catastrophic for Pyfer, and shows him the changes he has to make in his game plan in order to defeat high volume fighters like Hermansson. Pyfer, 27, is just entering his prime, and still has more than enough time to make the necessary changes in order to keep up with experienced veterans. He did take a good amount of punishment in this fight, so it may be a while until we see him again. Based on how hungry he is, it seems likely he will come back prepared for whoever stands across the Octagon from him next.