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Pyfer been on fire. This is a good match for him, but it’s not without risk
News Pyfer vs. Razak Alhassan booked for Apex October 7th
- Thread starter DjolexMTL
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Finally someone who can contest Pyfer in the power/striking department. Alhassan went on a pretty good run when he first entered the UFC, but then he had those three losses and people thought he was washed. However, he missed weight for two of those and then moved up to Middleweight where his first bout was against Malkoun who is a legitimately difficult fighter to look good against. Since then, I think there's a good case for him being on a three-fight winning streak if not for the judges siding with Buckley (I felt Abdul edged their fight, but it was close).
Abdul isn't impossible to put down as Khaos Williams showed, but beyond that he is quite dangerous himself. He beat Claudio Ribeiro -- another one-dimensional power-punching brawler -- at his own game and totally murked Alessio with that beautiful head kick. We haven't seen Joe's chin tested at all. I think both guys hit more than hard enough to seriously hurt each other. Joe might be the better boxer or at least have the quicker hands inside the pocket, though I'm not positive of that. I suspect Alhassan has the slightly more diverse striking arsenal.
Despite both dudes being primary strikers I wouldn't be surprised if one guy or the other mixes in a bit of grappling. Joe shot takedowns in both of his Contender Series appearances and completed each; he clearly knows how to wrestle at at least a basic level. He's also said in the past that BJJ was his first art and first love and if you watch his performances in no-gi submission grappling matches against Eryk Anders and GM3, I believe it. He clearly is not a novice on the mat. While I don't think he's someone we'll be seeing regularly running grappling-heavy gameplans -- taking dudes down, hunting subs, etc. -- I do think he has the fundamental skills in his back pocket. Defensively, he has stuffed one takedown and also been taken down once: both on his DWCS appearances. Admittedly the time he got taken down involved him getting slammed and trying to post on his arm thus causing his elbow to snap like a twig... so make of that what you will.
Alhassan has an extensive Judo base, but doesn't use it a ton in his fights. He scrambled pretty well against Buckley and even ended up in some good positions against him even as they both gassed, but the wrestling was definitely an issue for him in that bout. Likewise against Malkoun. He's occasionally scored some takedowns of his own across his UFC run, though.
I'll hesitantly side with Pyfer on the basis of momentum and potential, but to be quite honest he hasn't been meaningfully tested just yet. GM3 is a solid win, but Joe got him out of there in the best possible way: clipping him while he's still "cold" in the first round. Gerald is a notoriously slow-starter and is basically a sitting duck in the opening frame of a fight. We didn't get to see him deal with any of the things that make Gerald so dangerous: his body kicks, his long punches, his takedown attempts, his submission attempts, his aggressive pace in third rounds. Alhassan is definitely someone who has the potential to play spoiler by trading with Pyfer in the pocket and testing his chin, landing big counters, looking to set up his kicks, etc.
Abdul isn't impossible to put down as Khaos Williams showed, but beyond that he is quite dangerous himself. He beat Claudio Ribeiro -- another one-dimensional power-punching brawler -- at his own game and totally murked Alessio with that beautiful head kick. We haven't seen Joe's chin tested at all. I think both guys hit more than hard enough to seriously hurt each other. Joe might be the better boxer or at least have the quicker hands inside the pocket, though I'm not positive of that. I suspect Alhassan has the slightly more diverse striking arsenal.
Despite both dudes being primary strikers I wouldn't be surprised if one guy or the other mixes in a bit of grappling. Joe shot takedowns in both of his Contender Series appearances and completed each; he clearly knows how to wrestle at at least a basic level. He's also said in the past that BJJ was his first art and first love and if you watch his performances in no-gi submission grappling matches against Eryk Anders and GM3, I believe it. He clearly is not a novice on the mat. While I don't think he's someone we'll be seeing regularly running grappling-heavy gameplans -- taking dudes down, hunting subs, etc. -- I do think he has the fundamental skills in his back pocket. Defensively, he has stuffed one takedown and also been taken down once: both on his DWCS appearances. Admittedly the time he got taken down involved him getting slammed and trying to post on his arm thus causing his elbow to snap like a twig... so make of that what you will.
Alhassan has an extensive Judo base, but doesn't use it a ton in his fights. He scrambled pretty well against Buckley and even ended up in some good positions against him even as they both gassed, but the wrestling was definitely an issue for him in that bout. Likewise against Malkoun. He's occasionally scored some takedowns of his own across his UFC run, though.
I'll hesitantly side with Pyfer on the basis of momentum and potential, but to be quite honest he hasn't been meaningfully tested just yet. GM3 is a solid win, but Joe got him out of there in the best possible way: clipping him while he's still "cold" in the first round. Gerald is a notoriously slow-starter and is basically a sitting duck in the opening frame of a fight. We didn't get to see him deal with any of the things that make Gerald so dangerous: his body kicks, his long punches, his takedown attempts, his submission attempts, his aggressive pace in third rounds. Alhassan is definitely someone who has the potential to play spoiler by trading with Pyfer in the pocket and testing his chin, landing big counters, looking to set up his kicks, etc.
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This is a banger, love it!
Pyfer by TKO
Pyfer by TKO
