UFC on ESPN 64 in Mexico City appeared to have hit a brick wall after the middleweight bout between Kelvin Gastelum and Joe Pyfer got scrapped hours before the Fight Night went down. While fans are left scratching their heads as to what led to the withdrawal, let’s take a look at the reason why the only middleweight fight on the main card couldn’t materialize.

Kelvin Gastelum and Joe Pyfer won both of their last fights, and fans were hoping for a veteran vs prospect fight, pretty much like the theme of TUF 31. However, just hours before the show went down at Arena CDMX, the  28-year-old appeared to have been dealing with an unexpected setback. Here’s what he had to say.

All we know about Joe Pyfer and his illness

Joe Pyfer was about to open his account for 2025, hoping to make his return after nine months out of action. However, he opened up about his illness through an Instagram story, claiming that he got “super sick.” Judging by what Pyfer had to say, it appears that he fell ill while travelling outside of the United States, and guess what? The middleweight prospect claims he’s not going to make the same mistake again.

“Just wanna say my heart is broken I couldn’t fight today. I got super sick and hopefully we can reschedule this fight for a few weeks from now,” wrote Joe Pyfer. “Unfortunately comes with the territory of travelling outside the States. Never again, my apologies, guys. We’ll be back.”

Joe Pyfer has made it clear that he’s not ‘ducking’ Kelvin Gastelum and hopes that the UFC reschedules this fight. But on the other hand, Kelvin Gastelum was never too thrilled about stepping inside the Octagon against his younger counterparts. Let’s take a look at that front.

Kelvin Gastelum didn’t want to fight Joe Pyfer

Kelvin Gastelum claims to have had an easy choice when it came to whether he’d fight in welterweight or in middleweight, as he chose the latter. Claiming that he’s found more success in the 185-pound category, the 36-year-old was hoping to land a fight against a ranked opponent. However, Dana White decided to pit him up against Joe Pyfer, and Gastelum decided to welcome that challenge and test himself.

“At first I was a little bothered by the matchup, just because he’s not someone that I was looking for in a fight. He’s not on my radar. I wanted someone ranked. I wanted someone with a bigger name,” Kelvin Gastelum stated during the recent media day. “But you know what? I feel like this is a big test for me. I’ve got to start from the bottom again. I’ve got to fight these young killers, and that’s what I’m here to do.”

Well, Kelvin Gastelum now seems open about the prospect of fighting Joe Pyfer, so maybe Dana White rebooks this fight. In the meantime, let us know what you have to say about this middleweight fight getting scrapped from UFC Mexico City’s card. Drop your comments below.