Joe Pyfer opens up on nearly-fatal incident that was ‘seconds away’ from tragedy before UFC Seattle

UFC middleweight star Joe Pyfer opened up on the pre-UFC Seattle incident that nearly ended his life just weeks before his career-best win.

Joe Pyfer earned easily the biggest win of his UFC career last weekend at UFC Seattle. But just weeks before his second-career UFC main event booking, Pyfer nearly didn’t make it to the Octagon, and came close to ending his own life, as he admitted in his UFC Seattle post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier.

Pyfer defeated former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya by second-round TKO last Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena. It was a largely dominant performance from the Dana White’s Contender Series alum, as he catapulted into the middleweight Top 5 with his victory.

Before Pyfer found Mixed Martial Arts, he had a brutally tough upbringing due to an abusive father and a complicated relationship with his mother. He’s repeatedly spoken about his lifelong mental health battles and serves as an inspiration for many around the world.

Just seconds after the biggest win of his career, Pyfer admitted in the center of the Octagon that he ‘nearly took his own life’ just weeks before UFC Seattle. This drew a strong response on social media and a concerned reaction from UFC CEO Dana White at his post-fight presser.

Joe Pyfer: ‘I was a fallen man of the evil of the world’

In a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, Pyfer opened up on a scary incident last month that nearly ended his life.

“Very close, matter of seconds,” Pyfer shared.

“I had a calling in my head that, it wasn’t what I wanted to do. Cried out and it was a matter of seconds. That prayer is what saved me. February 7th was a very dark day for me, I’m ashamed to say it, but it’s a part of what happened and God came to me in a dream to have this out of body experience so I could see who I was…my love was still real and I was able to see my girlfriend now, of six-plus years, as the mother of my two children, something that I was always kind of on the fence of having. My entire life just transformed. February 7th was the final straw in me being a piece of crap, and then two days later I had that dream…

“It wasn’t something that just happened that day; it was a problem with women, validation, insecurity, and all of these things,” Pyfer continued. “I developed such a bad habit of coping through women, and I was very hurtful to a lot of people who love me. At the end of the day, I was unfulfilled…February 7th to 16th was a very dark few weeks for me. She really needed to know how much I loved her, even when I didn’t always show it. That girl brought me to where I am now; she’s in my life for a reason, and I think that’s to get to the place I am now as a man. I was a fallen man of the evil of the world.”

Pyfer went on to explain that a religious awakening was the catalyst for him getting back on the right track in his life. Thankfully, Pyfer is safe, happy, and one of the biggest topics in combat sports after UFC Seattle.

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