Joe Pyfer has explained why he opted to not fight Anthony Hernandez in December.

Bo Nickal announced last week that his next fight had been pushed back less than two weeks after it was made official for December.

The middleweight prospect has since revealed that this decision was made on his part, with Nickal needing more time to tend to some injuries.

While the matchup has been pushed back to February of next year, the UFC did present another option to Pyfer that would have kept him on the final numbered event of 2026.

Joe Pyfer chose to wait for Bo Nickal matchup over facing Anthony Hernandez due to current form and name value

Joe Pyfer stopped Israel Adesanya in March to set himself up for another big matchup in his return.

Things haven’t worked out for him to be able to capitalize on this momentum by competing again this year, with a matchup between Pyfer and Caio Borralho falling apart.

The American middleweight standout did recently reveal that the UFC did make him an offer to fight someone else on December 12 due to Bo Nickal’s delays.

Pyfer confirmed on The Ariel Helwani Show that he could have fought Anthony Hernandez on this date in order to get one more fight in before 2027.

He went on to explain that he believes given where Nickal and Hernandez are currently at in their careers, it made sense for him to wait for his original matchup to be rescheduled.

“It’s not that I didn’t like it,” he said. “I like ‘Fluffy’, I would love to fight him one day but currently I’m on a four-fight win streak and this is a business so I’d rather beat somebody who’s on a win streak than beat somebody who’s on a losing streak.

“Not that he can’t compete with me, styles make matches. It’s not saying that he’s not worthy of the fight but given the options, would I rather wait for Bo, who has a big name, or would I rather wait for somebody who has the same name as me? Me and ‘Fluffy’ aren’t that popular.”

Joe Pyfer was surprised to get Bo Nickal matchup but thinks it makes sense

Joe Pyfer is on one of the middleweight division’s best winning streaks and as a result, there are only five names above him in the Meta rankings.

He admitted during the interview that he wasn’t expecting to receive the offer to fight Bo Nickal next considering where they both currently stand in the division.

However, Pyfer also believes that the division is “kind of stuck right now”, so it makes sense for him to face one of the bigger names rather than waiting for something else.