Joe Pyfer Doesn't Care About Experience

Pyfer has an edge to him at all times. It’s like he woke up in the morning, stepped on a Lego and has been pissed off ever since, every day for the last several thousand days.

In actuality, what happened is that he was born into a hellscape — one of the group of kids his parents were unequipped to raise and guide, dropped into a life of verbal and physical abuse that began before he even really started forming memories and that got so bad at times that he thought of ending his own life.

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When he eventually left home at 16, opting for a park bench in the dead of winter rather than another night under his father’s roof, he took his gym bag and an incalculable amount of trauma and pain, as well as an understandable mistrust in just about everyone that manifests itself to this day in his persistent standoffish nature.

That hardness was calcified after his first appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series ended with a gruesome elbow injury that left his fighting future in doubt, and many of the people that had populated the bandwagon as he worked his way to the brink of the big leagues quickly stepped off the bus when those dreams appeared to be dashed.

But if you can gain his trust, crack through those heavy walls even a little, you’ll get to see another side of Pyfer.

At his core, he just wants to be accepted, encouraged, and supported, which is why connecting with coach John Marquez and the crew in Philadelphia has been such a godsend for him, as he’s not only surrounded by people that understand where he’s come from, but want to help him reach whatever heights he can reach inside the Octagon.

He wants to be a leader, an example to the other members of the team that if you dream big enough and work hard enough, you’re able to make your dreams come true.

“It’ll mean the world to me,” he said of beating Hermansson on Saturday. “It’ll reassure everyone on my team that haven’t made it to this level yet that it’s possible. It’s gonna be a huge mile marker for our gym. I’m the first main event and it’ll mean a lot, especially to go out there and get a win against a ranked guy.

“Not saying I‘m guaranteed to win — I know Jack is tough, it’s gonna be a good fight. By no means have I underestimated him. I have made him my toughest fight for good reasons, but I do think I’m going to absolutely dismantle him.”

Whether Pyfer believes in the value of experience or not, beating Hermansson and catapulting himself into the Top 15 after just four appearances will be a major, noteworthy accomplishment, especially given where he’s come from, what he’s been through.

And while he hasn’t quite let himself think about it all yet, he knows when he’ll finally take the time to reflect on the journey to this point.

“Sunday, definitely,” he said when asked if when he’ll take stock of all that he’s accomplished. “With a win, definitely.”

The day after the fight will mark three-and-a-half years since his fateful first appearance on the Contender Series, which only puts the magnitude of what he has already accomplished and what he might add to it this weekend into greater perspective.

“I think Sunday with a win, destroying Jack’s face, finally taking a vacation after four-and-a-half, five years to relax a little bit — reset my heart, reset my brain, my mind, ground myself — I think that’s when it will set in.

“When I’m finally able to take a vacation, sit somewhere with a nice sunset and a nice breeze and just take that big exhale that I’ve been waiting to do.”