Since giving Israel Adesanya hell in their UFC 236 clash six years ago, Kelvin Gastelum has run into some problems. The American has suffered from weight-cutting issues and has lost six of his last nine fights. But the Californian was determined to things around in his UFC Mexico City clash before the fight was canceled hours before the event.

Why? Well, because his scheduled opponent, fellow unranked middleweight Joe Pyfer, was forced to pull out of their main card clash due to a sudden illness. Since Dana White and Co. couldn’t secure a replacement opponent (which is unsurprising given the New Jersey native withdrew at the eleventh hour), the bout has been called off altogether. But UFC star Kevin Holland thinks this cancellation could have been avoided.

“All they had to do was call,” Holland tweeted after Pyfer’s pull-out.

Of course, ‘Trailblazer’, who fought at UFC London last week, is suggesting that he would have stepped in even on this shortest of notices to take on Gastelum. And you know what, it would have been a more exciting matchup than Gastelum-Pyfer. Both Gastelum and Holland are veterans and big stars. Not to mention Pyfer is unranked at 185 pounds, just like Holland. But based purely on star-power, Gastelum-Holland would have been far ahead.

Moreover, for those doubting whether Holland is serious, of course he is. ‘Trailblazer’ comes from the ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone fight-as-many-people-as-often-as-you-can school of thought. Perhaps logistically, Holland may not have made it to Mexico City in time from Texas, where he lives at the moment. But if the call had come, you better be sure ‘Trailblazer’ would have tried. But fate had different plans.

Anyways, pulling out at the last second is a pretty serious thing. Fighters often fight with minor injuries. Some mad lads have even chosen to go into the Octagon with broken bones rather than pull out and disappoint the fans. So why did Pyfer take such a drastic step?

Joe Pyfer explains why he pulled out of Kelvin Gastelum clash

“Due to illness, Joe Pyfer has been removed from his middleweight bout with Kelvin Gastelum. As a result, this bout has been canceled from today’s event,” the UFC said in a statement on their official website, leaving fans scratching their heads. But thankfully, Pyfer broke his silence shortly after.

“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. Unfortunately, comes with the territory of traveling outside of the states. Never again. My apologies guys. We’ll be back,” Pyfer promised in a post on his social media.

But as you will notice, he didn’t go into any details either, so we don’t know exactly what illness made him pull out. But safe to say, it must have been serious. The win over Gastelum would have probably given him a ranked opponent next. From there, he could have gotten back in the rankings and made another push towards the title shot. Which is why he is hoping the bout is rescheduled, as are many fans. What do you think about Kevin Holland’s tweet after the Gastelum-Pyfer cancellation?