Joe Pyfer rips Bo Nickal while discussing his first UFC loss: “If anybody got fraud-checked, it’s Bo Nickal”
Joe Pyfer has ripped Bo Nickal after he suffered his first career loss to Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines.
Nickal was a massive favorite but suffered a TKO loss. Although the loss happened a month ago, Pyfer took aim at Nickal as he claims the former All-American wrestler got fraud checked, while he didn’t in his loss to Jack Hermansson.
“I think a lot of people go off my Jack Hermanson fight, which is fine. But that was my first big show, my first big test, walked into it not 100 percent, I had some things going on,” Pyfer said at UFC 316 media day. “It wasn’t my best performance, but I didn’t get rocked. I didn’t get dropped, I didn’t get submitted, I didn’t get fraud checked. Let’s redefine what fraud-checked is. If anyone got fraud-checked, we can say it’s Bo Nickal. He got finished in his first loss. I lost a split decision basically, three rounds to two.”
It was a shot at Bo Nickal for seemingly no reason by Joe Pyfer. But, perhaps he has his eyes on a future fight with Nickal, so he’s laying the groundwork for it.
But, Pyfer makes it clear he wasn’t fraud-checked, and losing to Hermansson in a close fight was a good learning experience for him.
Joe Pyfer believes he’s much better than Kelvin Gastelum
Joe Pyfer got back into the win column with a KO win over Marc-Andre Barriault last June after his loss to Hermansson.
Now, Pyfer will return at UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey, against Kelvin Gastelum. It’s an intriguing matchup, and heading into the bout, Pyfer has confidence that he’s much better than Gastelum.
“I also thought in my personal opinion that KG (Kelvin Gastelum) has done his better work at 185,” Pyfer said. “He’s not going to be as sucked out at ’70 obviously. I still think that there’s a huge power difference between us. I think that there’s a big skill difference between us as far as me being more complete.”
Pyfer is 13-3 as a pro and 4-1 in the UFC.
