'Never Again, My Apologies'

03/29/2025 02:23 PM

Joe Pyfer has released his first statement following his last-second removal from UFC Mexico City later tonight (Sat., Mar. 29, 2025) LIVE on ESPN+ from inside Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico, and let's just say "Bodybagz" is pretty upset.

Fight fans were thrown for a loop earlier today when UFC officials announced that a middleweight matchup between Pyfer and veteran Kelvin Gastelum was removed from Saturday's card in Mexico City. The promotion revealed that Pyfer had come down with an illnes and was unable to compete, but didn't offer any further details beyond that.

Shortly after the news broke, Pyfer took to social media to deliver a message to his fans and give some sort of explanation as to why he can't fight at UFC Mexico City. After all, this was a huge opportunity for the former Contender Series standout to become the first fighter to knockout Gastelum and punch his ticket to the middleweight top 15.

"Just wanna say my heart is broken I couldn't fight today," wrote Pyfer (via Instagram). "I got super sick and hopefully we can reschedule this fight for a few weeks from now. Unfortunately, comes with the territory of traveling outside of the states. Never again, my apologies guys. We'll be back."

Unfortunately for Pyfer, he'll have to go back to the drawing board after this one. It's unknown at this time if the promotion is interested in re-booking his matchup against Gastelum, but if travel was the issue then "Bodybagz" may be back in the UFC Apex sooner rather than later.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Mexico fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN2/ESPN+preliminary card bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining UFC Mexico main card balance on ESPN2/ESPN+at 7 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Mexico news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized "Moreno vs. Erceg" fight card and ESPN2/ESPN+ lineup click here.