Middleweight Dustin Stoltzfus (13-1) might have been just a wee bit nervous about whether he was getting a UFC deal after a freak injury ended his Contender Series fight on Tuesday.
After slamming opponent Joe Fyfer to the mat, Fyfer’s elbow appeared to dislocate, if not break, as he tried to post on it to break his fall. Which ultimately made things worse for Fyfer.
So yes, there were some nerves about whether that particular ending would grant him access to the world’s biggest MMA promotion. “A little bit. I need to watch the fight, but I had the feeling that it was a pretty interesting fight, so I wasn’t too concerned with that,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press post-fight. “Plus, my record’s good. If you look at my other fights, they are exciting fights with a lot of cool finishes, especially in my last six or seven.”
Believe it or not, Stoltzfus was more focused on the injury that ended things. “I was more just taken aback by the injury myself. We hit the ground, and then his broken arm is right in front of my face. It was sort of gross. Sorry Joe.”
Following the fight, UFC President Dana White singled out Dustin Stoltzfus as a fighter he was expecting big things from. That’s quite the endorsement, but Stoltzfus knows he has a ways to go.
“I have a lot to prove yet. A lot of people, as soon as I got the chance to fight on Contenders, were like ‘you made it, you did it,'” Stoltzfus stated. “It’s like ‘No, I haven’t.’ I’m fighting against another guy with regional experience. I fought some people that I think are at a UFC level, but I haven’t fought anyone who’s been in the UFC and really proved their worth as a fighter at the very top level. I’ve got a lot to do, a lot to work on, a lot to prove. A lot to show you guys.”
After spending some time with his family in Pennsylvania, Stoltzfus hopes to start proving that he belongs in September or October.
