Recently, middleweight UFC combatant Joe Pyfer appeared on the recent episode of Joe Rogan Experience. Pyfer recently made news when it was revealed that he has broken Francis Ngannou’s record for the hardest punch on the UFC PI punch machine.
UFC middleweight champion Sean Brady was the one who made it public. But Pyfer had a heartbreaking tale to share with Rogan that startled the UFC commentator.
Joe Pyfer recently opened up about the horrific abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his father. Pyfer stated that the abuse started when he was only 1 year old over a typical baby accident.
“Started when I was a year old. My parents both blame each other. I’m one of five kids. I got four sisters, two older, two younger. And I yeah, I started getting beat as a as a one year old from what I was told was because I chipped myself. Right. It’s what kids infants do,” Pyfer explained.
“It has to be him. My mom was not physically aggressive by nature, you know, and I mean, she she definitely whacked ass, you know, a good amount. But it was never with the mean intentions, you know, comparable to my father. It was more verbal on her end. But but yeah. So it started then. And bro, since the time I’ve had memory, I remember getting my head stomped, getting beat, getting screamed at slap, humiliated, just run down, told you you’re never going to be anything.”
Pyfer says the abuse stemmed from his father, who was physically aggressive unlike his mother. He recalls getting his head stomped, being beaten, humiliated, and verbally abused from a very young age. His sisters suffered similar fates.
Pyfer was homeschooled and controlled by his abusive father growing up. He says focusing on his MMA career and dream of making it to the UFC is what kept him going despite the trauma.
“I would have checked out. And that’s that’s what made me you know, that’s what made me like, keep going, motherf**ker. Keep going, keep going, keep going. And I just kept beating down the door of people like my coach that, you know, has come with me,” he stated.
Pyfer’s father collected disability benefits but did nothing except continue the abuse. To this day he has never taken accountability. Pyfer says the last time he will likely see his estranged father is “when it’s done and over.”
While the abuse fuels his drive today, Pyfer says he would never wish it on anyone. His story is one of perseverance and beating the odds to achieve his dream despite unimaginable trauma during his childhood.
On February 10, Joe Pyfer will take against Jack Hermansson in the main event of UFC Vegas 86. Pyfer has won all three of his UFC matches by submission, two TKOs, and one TKO. Pyfer struggled to be accepted into the UFC. His first effort to join the UFC was unsuccessful. He fractured his arm in the 2020 Contender Series, which led to his defeat. But he returned in 2022 and secured a UFC deal after a thrilling knockout victory.