Tuesday nights are fight nights once again, thanks to the return of Dana White’s Contender Series, and the fighters set to compete in future weeks of the Series have a tough job on their hands to impress the UFC president.
White wasn’t impressed with much of what he saw at the UFC Apex on Week 1, but the performance of Joe Pyfer in the main event gave the UFC boss a lone highlight to cling on to, as he used Pyfer’s performance as an example to those set to take to the octagon in the upcoming weeks.
Pyfer finished Ozzy Diaz via strikes early in the second round of their middleweight main event bout, with White paying tribute to Pyfer’s attitude and approach as he assessed the night’s best performances.
“Let me put it to you this way,” he told Laura Sanko in his post-event sum-up.
“Let me reiterate what this show is about. There’s a lot of talented people out there. There’s a lot of talented fighters, a lot of talented kids. I don’t watch anything on anybody before they come here. Tonight you had somebody from Faber’s camp, you got Serra-Longo, you got all these famous teams with these guys that come in here. I don’t watch any of this stuff.
“I don’t care what you did in your career the last five years. What are you going to do tonight? So, next week, when you roll in here, the next crew on Tuesday, show me who you are Tuesday night. That’s the only thing I’m concerned with now.
“If you want to get into the UFC and this is where you want to be. Act like Joe Pyfer, OK? Be Joe Pyfer. Be excited to be here, be fired up to fight. Try to finish the fight, try to win, be Joe Pyfer and you will get into the UFC.”
