Why was Kelvin Gastelum vs. Joe Pyfer canceled? Fans react as fighter pulls out from UFC Mexico City at the last minute

Rising contender Joe Pyfer and UFC veteran Kelvin Gastelum were scheduled for a middleweight showdown at UFC Mexico City on March 29 at Arena CDMX in Mexico City. However, the fight did not end up happening.

On fight day, news broke that the fight had fallen through as Pyfer had suffered a sickness. 'Bodybagz' later uploaded a message to his Instagram stories where he shared the reason behind his withdrawal from the card.

Pyfer shared that traveling outside the United States might have resulted in him being unwell.

"Just wanna say my heart is broken I couldn't fight today. I got super sick and hopefully we can re-schedule this fight for a few weeks from now. Unfortunately comes with the territory of travelling outside the [United] States. Never again. My apologies, guys. We'll be back."

Check out a screenshot of Joe Pyfer's Instagram story below:

Joe Pyfer speaks about his fight cancellation

Fans took note of Pyfer's Instagram story and shared their reactions on social media.

One individual opined that Pyfer's sickness could have been "easily avoided."

"I mean he's not wrong about getting sick easier in foreign countries but like... that's lowkey common sense and is pretty easily avoided."

Another accused the middleweight of using sickness as an excuse to dodge the fight.

"Didn't look sick at the weigh-ins. Just an excuse to duck a fight."

One user felt that 'Bodybagz' should be punished for withdrawing from the fight on the day of the event.

"Pulling out on the day of [the fight], needs to be suspended for a year and come back with an opponent far from the rankings. These pullouts the day of the fight need serious punishment."

Check out a compilation of some of the reactions below:

MMA fans react to Joe Pyfer's Instagram story discussing his illness