Mixed Martial Arts Fighter

Avoiding his abusive father, he spent nights on a park bench before he met a kind teacher.

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Joe Pyfer was born in Vineland, New Jersey in 1996. He has not spoken much about his parents, who were divorced when he was an early teenager. 

CHILDHOOD

While living with his father following his parents’ divorce, Pyfer learned both judo and jiu jitsu. When he was 16, he escaped from his home as much as possible every day because his father was both mentally and physically abusive. 

Then a junior at Penncrest High School in Media (suburban Philadelphia), Pyfer walked for miles each afternoon to pass the time until another day was finished. He ducked into a Wawa (convenience store chain) for coffee to stay warm, sat alone in parks and finally settled for the night on a park bench. 

“I would just think about what the hell I was going to do with my life,” said Pyfer. But he had a dream – to be a fighter within the ‘UFC.’ 

(UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship – the most prestigious mixed martial arts organization. ‘Mixed martial arts’ is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorporating techniques from various combat sports around the world. Since the sport was created, many rules have been introduced for the safety of the participants, including weight classes, small open-fingered gloves, time limits and banning kicks of an opponent on the ground. Victory is achieved either by a judge’s decision or stoppage by a referee (if an opponent cannot defend himself intelligently) or by a fight doctor or by a knock-out or by ‘submission’ when a cornerman literally throws a towel into the ring.)

EDUCATION – INCLUDING A TEACHER’S EXTRAORDINARY KINDNESS

After moving out of his father’s home while Pyfer was a high school junior, he spent a week trying to sleep on a metal bench by a baseball field in Media.  

“I would stay up,“ he said. “I wouldn’t really sleep that much just because you’re outdoors and people walk by. You don’t really get much rest sleeping there, so that’s why I was falling asleep in class. It was just a place for me to be able to stay and lay down.”

“It was like a ‘It’ll work itself out’ type of deal, and if it doesn’t, then I’d rather be out here than home dealing with that guy (my father).” 

After a week living in the park when not in school, he moved in with a wrestling teammate. Pyfer was new at Penncrest High School and the two classmates bonded after Pyfer’s Black teammate was bullied with racial slurs and Pyfer stuck up for him. 

At school, Pyfer joined the wrestling team as a junior, where he met Will Harmon, a Penncrest teacher and assistant wrestling coach. Pyfer spent his lunch period in Harmon’s classroom. They listened to music, played chess and when the teacher realized that Pyfer never brought his own lunch, they split the food that Harmon’s wife packed just for him. 

“A ham and cheese sandwich with mustard,” Pyfer recalled. “I never had one of those before but that was banging. I loved it. It was the thickest sandwich you could imagine. Those are the things you always remember. The sandwich was so much more than a sandwich. It was a moment of kindness. This man will split what he has. He really cared. I could tell that he gave a crap about me. I wasn’t used to that. I think he understands now that it was so much more than a sandwich.” 

Harmon drove Pyfer to practice and stayed with him afterward, helping the once-homeless teen blossom into one of the region’s top wrestlers. And Pyfer slowly started to tell Harmon about what he left behind: a father who often punched him and threatened to kill him. 

“It was in like bits and pieces,” Harmon recalled. “A lot of the time, you would just get part of the story. He was a kid going through problems that no one should have to go through. He was dealing with adult situations as a 16, 17-year-old kid and didn’t always know how to say that he needed help. So, we listened to 1980s bands like Milli Vanilli and When in Rome and split those sandwiches.”

The teacher continued, “He loved the song ‘I Got a Name’ by Jim Croce. That was really important to him because that’s really all he had in this life, just his name. He wanted people to know who he was and not just for the bad things but create a new name, his own name.”

As Pyfer was learning the basics of wrestling, the assistant wrestling coach continued to offer his encouragement during both intrasquad and eventually varsity matches against other high school teams. “I just told him, ‘Joe, you got this.’ I was just there for him. That’s all he needed to be successful in this life, for someone to acknowledge him and have his back.”  

Pyfer always loved cars, making it easy to imagine his thrill “spending every penny I had” after graduating from high school and working in various low-paying jobs, to be able to purchase a 2005 Ford Mustang GT. And it’s even easier to understand how he felt when the car was repossessed early in the morning after he returned home from his part-time job as a ‘bouncer’ at a West Chester bar. 

“They were waiting for me to pull up at home,” Pyfer said. “I was a few months behind on the payments and the insurance lapsed. I couldn’t afford to pay. It was one of the most humbling, humiliating feelings.”

He asked Harmon to lend him some money. His old coach agreed to meet him where he was then living. Harmon told him that he would lend him the cash to get his car back. But he told his former pupil that he would soon learn what kind of person Pyfer really was. 

“I said ‘Joe, you’re either someone who pays back their debts and makes those debts right or you’ll just take the money and go on,” Harmon said. Harmon then told him that he could move in with him and his wife, so long as he fully committed himself to the UFC dream he had since he was sleeping on that park bench. Pyfer agreed and moved in the next day. He stayed with the Harmons for four years while his dream started to come into focus. 

“My mom always said, ‘You never loan someone money that you expect to get back’” Harmon said. “It’s something I lived by, so I never expected him to pay me back, but Joe turned out to be a class act. He paid back every cent. The rest is history.”

There are coffee shops closer to Harmon’s home, but Pyfer insisted every day to drive to a Starbucks in Media. Harmon finally found out why. Before they entered one day, Pyfer greeted a homeless man by name and asked if he wanted ‘the usual.’ Pyfer came out with a cup of coffee and a warn chocolate-chip cookie which he handed to the homeless man. Harmon will always remember Pyfer saying to him, “I just want the guy to feel normal for a second. I know what it’s like to be him.” 

When nominated by the UFC to fight for their championship, Pyfer was interviewed about the upcoming match. The interview was posted as a video on the UFC website. Among his comments:

• I cried in my truck when I received the call about fighting for the UFC championship. 
• I come from doubt though I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, I wondered how far away was it?
• The championship bout is still just a fight. I know it involves rankings, a main event and it’s the biggest fight of my life but it’s still just a fight. 
• The pressure is on the other guy, who is higher ranked with more UFC experience. I’m just a guy but my opponent doesn’t have the skills to be champion and the pressure is on him.
• If I can’t get past him, I’ll need to reevaluate my training. I was sick during part of my recent training, but I have always faced obstacles and it didn’t stop me from continuing to train.
• My life has been forged in the fire of doubt. 
• In the ring, I’m poised, calm and using my skills. I’m sure my opponent is a nice guy outside the ring, but I aim to hurt him. 
• I was raised angry, so I know anger when I see it, but I dish it out very well. 
• Every time I win, I’m reminded of the tough times I have overcome. I’ve always been written off except by my teammates and supporters. 

CAREER SATISFACTION

The Joe Pyfer career story is still being written but since joining the UFC as a ‘Middleweight” (6’2”, 185 lbs.), Pyfer has had 14 fights, resulting in 12 wins (8 knockouts) and 2 losses (1 knockout, 1 submission by his corner team). 

Two years ago, UFC President Dana White implored the organization’s fighters to “Be Joe Pyfer” if they wanted to make it in the fight game. 

On a Saturday night in February 2024, Pyfer will for the first time, be the Main Event, fighting for the UFC championship. 

Regardless of how any one fight turns out, Pyfer is already a winner in life. 

(Editor’s note – And so is the compassionate teacher.)

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This career story is based on multiple sources including a news article written by Matt Breen, published by The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper on February 10, 2024, plus internet research, including Wikipedia.