Joe Pyfer vows to change meaning behind famous Dana White catchphrase
· Yahoo Sports
Joe Pyfer put Israel Adesanya away with ground-and-pound at UFC Seattle. | Getty/UFC
Joe Pyfer rose to the UFC through Dana White's Contender Series, earning a contract in his second appearance after suffering an elbow injury in his initial outing. That prompted the UFC CEO to urge other UFC hopefuls to "Be Joe Pyfer.”
After defeating Israel Adesanya via second-round technical knockout in the UFC Seattle headliner this past Saturday, Pyfer has designs on changing the perception of what the actually means.
“I’m in a really good spot mentally,” Pyfer said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “The ‘Be Joe Pyfer,’ who I was as a person is dead, but the ‘Be Joe Pyfer,’ thing will live on in a much greater way now, where people can be inspired by it, and it actually means something. So, I’m proud of who I am now. …
“So, yeah, ‘Be Joe Pyfer’ will still be a thing, it’s just got a different meaning now.”
Leading up to UFC Seattle, Pyfer credited his newfound faith and his longtime girlfriend for bringout about a change in his overall philosophy. However, a more startling revelation occurred in the moments after his triumph over Adesanya, when Pyfer revealed that he nearly took his own life a couple weeks prior to the fight.
Pyfer went into a little more detail when explaining the meaning behind those remarks at the UFC Seattle presser.
“I said it all week, and I think a lot of people kind of dismissed it as I wasn’t going to be able to go in there and still have this tenacity about me or this mean streak about me. I was born a fighter. I was born into chaos and a messed-up family, as many children are. It’s not like mine’s super special compared to anybody else’s,” Pyfer said.
“But yeah, I was a victim of my own self-destruction. I had lust issues; I had just this toxic cycle of coping. Nothing drug-related or anything like that, but I had a dream where I was disgusted about who I was, I broke a lot of people’s hearts around me, particularly one person that I never will hurt again, and s—t, I was just disgusted with myself.
“So, I went and got therapy. In this dream, I feel like God chose me and took my hand, gave me a restored life, a renewed life. The only thing I can say is I feel like all the pressure of the world is gone, all the expectations of the world [are] gone, and I feel like a true, free person.”
Change is Possible
As a result, Pyfer felt like a new man during fight week. That allowed him to “Be Joe Pyfer” — just in a different way.
“This whole week has been beautiful with my team, the support, and my coaches,” he said. “It’s just showing them that you can change, and you can be a better man, and God is real. Jesus is real. There are certain ways you are called to live, and those are the ways that I've followed and through my prayer, I was granted this victory. Because let me tell you: I've prayed probably 50 times this week. I was the most calm, happy, peaceful, appreciative person I've ever been in my life."
Visit catcross.biz for more information.