Joe Pyfer just earned the biggest win of his career over Israel Adesanya at UFC Seattle, but the true victory came before that when he saved his own life through the power of God.
Pyfer spent fight week discussing his newfound faith, leading some to question whether we’d see the same violent hard-hitting “Bodybagz” that had finished five of his UFC fights. As far as we can tell there was no change in his hard pressure, big swinging ways. He ended up hitting Adesanya with a number of powerful punches, softening the former champ up for a takedown that led to back control and a ground and pound finish in the second round (watch the highlights here).
Following the fight, Pyfer revealed just how important his recent turn to faith was.
“I almost took my own life like a couple weeks ago,” he told Daniel Cormier on the mic in the cage. “And I found God, and I hate crying, man, so I’m gonna keep it together. God restored me, baby. That’s the only reason I’m here!”
At the UFC Seattle post-fight press conference, Pyfer gave a few more details into what was going on in his life.
“I was born into chaos and a messed up family, as many children are,” he said. It’s not like my story is super special compared to anybody else’s, but I was a victim of my own self destruction. I had lust issues. I had 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 and, particularly one person that I never will hurt again. And s–t, man. 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 and gave me a restored life, a renewed life,” Pyfer continued. “The only thing I can say is that I feel like all the pressure of the world is gone. All the expectations of the world is gone, and I feel like a true free person. This whole week has been beautiful with my team and all the support and my coaches and just showing them that you can change and you can be a better man and that God is real, Jesus is real, and there’s certain ways that you’re called to live. And those are the ways that I followed.”
“Through my prayer, I was granted this victory. Because let me tell you, I prayed probably 50 times this week, and I was the most calm, happy, peaceful, appreciative person I’ve ever been in my life.”
“I was a believer, I was a Christian, but I was lukewarm with it,” he said later. “I’m a believer, I’m a Christian, but I’m out there and I’m messing with women or I’m doing this or I’m doing that. That’s just not godly. There is no downside to living by Christian morals. If you don’t respect that, that’s fine. But give yourself the opportunity for true freedom.”
Pyfer repeatedly credited his girlfriend for sticking with him through the tough times where he didn’t even want to stick with himself. In the past he’s rejected the viral “Be Joe Pyfer” meme, which was a bit odd since it was so glowingly positive. He’s more prepared to accept it now that he thinks Joe Pyfer is someone worth being.
“The ‘Be Joe Pyfer,’ who I was as a person is dead,” he said. “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. I’m proud of who I am right now. And I have to make tough choices every day. What I’m doing is actually the hardest thing to do, and it gets harder because all the evil of the world tries to attack you for whatever reason. It’s just the way it works.”
“But yeah, ‘Be Joe Pyfer’ will still be a thing. It’s just got a different meaning now.”
