Breaking: Prospect Joe Pyfer set to fight middleweight vet at UFC Vegas 80 in October

The UFC is set to head back to its Las Vegas APEX for a Fight Night event on October 7. While the event has not seen a headliner announced yet, it is beginning to fill up.

Some of the standout bouts on tap include a lightweight clash between veterans Drew Dober and Ricky Glenn, and a bantamweight fight pitting No.15 ranked Chris Gutierrez against Montel Jackson.

Fans have already expressed their fear for Glenn in his bout with Dober. ‘The Gladiator’ has won just once in his past four fights.

Now, it has been revealed by notable MMA journalist Marcel Dorff that middleweight prospect Joe Pyfer will be in action at the event, too. He is set to face off with longtime UFC veteran Abdul Razak Alhassan.

Despite only making two appearances in the octagon thus far, Pyfer has quite a lot of hype around him. His last fight saw him stop Gerald Meerschaert with punches in just over three minutes, taking his overall record to 11-2.

A veteran of Dana White’s Contender Series, ‘Bodybagz’ received a lot of attention after his fight with Meerschaert after it was revealed that White had bought him a house to prevent him from being left homeless.

Alhassan, meanwhile, was last seen knocking out Claudio Ribeiro in the second round of their fight in January. ‘Judo Thunder’ holds a UFC record of 6-5, and has been part of the roster since his debut back in 2016.

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Joe Pyfer UFC: How did ‘Bodybagz’ earn his shot in the octagon?

Like a number of prospects currently competing in the UFC, Joe Pyfer earned his shot in the octagon by winning impressively on Dana White’s Contender Series.

‘Bodybagz’ knocked out Ozzy Diaz in the second round of their clash last July, and became the only fighter on his episode of the series to be offered a deal by the promotion.

Interestingly, the fight with Diaz was not Pyfer’s first go-around on the Contender Series.

He faced off with Dustin Stoltzfus in the 2020 edition of the show but suffered a dislocated elbow when he attempted to block a takedown. The injury resulted in Pyfer losing via first-round TKO, putting his octagon dream on hold for two years.