It's safe to say Joe Pyfer is confident in his chances against Kelvin Gastelum, who he faces this Saturday at UFC on ESPN 64 in Mexico City, Mexico. In a media day interview ahead of the bout, Pyfer, who is known for his exceptional punching power, has predicted a knockout against Gastelum.
This is quite the claim, given that Gastelum has never been knocked out, with even Tyron Woodley in his prime being unable to shut his lights out. However, Pyfer believes he's a different beast who will bring a different level of both striking and punching power come fight night.
"It's hard to say, man. I've had a lot of thoughts on it, about how I can win, and I see myself winning every which way. I do believe I can knock him out, I think I'm a better boxer. I'm stronger, I'm faster, I'm bigger, for sure. But he's accustomed to that, he's fought everybody bigger. So, he's a veteran, and he swings wild and he swings hard too. He's got power of his own. So, the only way I see myself losing is somehow I got knocked out, which has never happened to me."
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Check out Joe Pyfer's thoughts on fighting Kelvin Gastelum (1:54):
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Gastelum is the most high-profile opponent Pyfer will have faced thus far in his career, having been a former interim middleweight title challenger who has taken on the likes of Israel Adesanya, Chris Weidman, Michael Bisping, and Robert Whittaker, all of whom are ex-middleweight champions.
Meanwhile, Pyfer is coming off a thunderous first-round knockout at UFC 303 over Marc-André Barriault, which was his rebound win after he suffered his first-ever UFC loss to Jack Hermansson.
Joe Pyfer broke Francis Ngannou's punching power record at the UFC Performance Institute
Francis Ngannou is widely regarded as the most powerful puncher in UFC history, perhaps MMA history as a whole. In the past, he tested his power out on the Power Kube at the UFC Performance Institute, scoring 129,161 units. However, Joe Pyfer, a middleweight, scored higher.
Check out Joe Pyfer and Joe Rogan reacting to his punching record (0:52):
After several tries, he managed a staggering 170,000 units. Many, however, were skeptical of the validity of his claim. While evidence was later provided on episode #153 of the JRE MMA Show, his record was eventually beaten by former light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who managed 191,796 units.
