A high-profile middleweight match-up that fell off last month’s UFC Mexico City card has been rebooked, with the promotion opting to keep Joe Pyfer and Kelvin Gastelum together.
Illness (seemingly food poisoning) pulled Pyfer out of the March event on the day of the fight, but he’ll now face Gastelum at UFC 316 in Newark, NJ this June instead. Pyfer’s head coach, John Marquez, broke the news on MMA on Sirius XM.
Pyfer also confirmed the booking on social media, on the very same platform on which he blasted Mexico as a whole after falling sick there.
“I don’t care if it’s offensive to you. I will never go back to that country,” Pyfer said in a video posted to his Instagram story, that was widely circulated. “I did everything right. I slept in a tent. I did all this work to still get sick. Some people are saying it wasn’t the food, saying I got altitude sickness. If that’s what altitude and elevation is, f*ck that country.
“I will never fight there again. Sh*thole! Not going back. Don’t care if that’s offensive to you, you’re not the one fighting. Suck my balls, literally.”
Pyfer didn’t win himself any new Mexican fans with the comments, obviously, and might have handed Gastelum a little added motivation with the rant. In any case, they’ll now face off on a card headlined by Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley 2, a rematch of their UFC 306 bantamweight title fight. Kayla Harrison will also challenge Julianna Pena for the women’s bantamweight championship, in the night’s co-main event.
UFC 316 takes place on June 7, 2025 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. The following match-ups have been reported for the card:
- Merab Dvalishvili (c) vs. Sean O’Malley – for the UFC bantamweight championship
- Julianna Pena (c) vs. Kayla Harrison – for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship
- Marlon Vera vs. Mario Bautista
- Bruno Gustavo da Silva vs. Joshua Van
- Serghei Spivac vs. Shamil Gaziev
- Johnny Walker vs. Azamat Murzakanov
- Ariane da Silva vs. Wang Cong
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Joe Pyfer
