UFC Fight Night 229 Prediction: Pyfer vs Alhassan – War!

After a week-long absence, the UFC is back at the APEX this weekend! This card is headlined by a big lightweight showdown between Grant Dawson and Bobby Green taking centre stage. However, we are breaking down and offering our prediction for the huge middleweight co-main event, featuring Joe Pyfer and Abdul Razak Alhassan. Read on below to find out!

Joe Pyfer: “Bodybagz” Hoping To Make Statement

It says a lot about you as a fighter when Dana White tells every other fighter on an episode of the Contender Series to “be Joe Pyfer”. The man they call “Bodybagz” has made an extremely impressive start to life in the UFC, currently riding the wave of a three fight win streak (including his very impressive victory in the Contender Series). His most recent victory was arguably his most impressive, coming against grizzled middleweight veteran Gerald Meerschaert, who is anything but a pushover. His next test against Abdul Razak Alhassan will be very intriguing, that’s for sure. Either way, we are confident in making the prediction that it will be explosive.

Joe Pyfer has been on a tear to start his UFC career, and has lived up to the predictions of many. It is very hard to make a prediction against him at the moment. (Image Credit: MMA Fighting)

Abdul Razak Alhassan: Severe Inconsistency

Abdul Razak Alhassan, much like his opponent, Joe Pyfer, is one of the most exciting non-ranked fighters within the stacked UFC middleweight division. However, no one could have made the prediction for how rocky and inconsistent the veteran’s path would have been so far. He is currently 6-5 in his UFC run, which kind of tells you all you need to know, even going so far as suffering a three fight losing skid at one point. For Alhassan, this fight is extremely, extremely important – he desperately needs to start putting some consistent and momentum together, and soon.

Joe Pyfer: Path to Victory – Heavy Hands, Fast Feet

Joe Pyfer is riding a massive amount of confidence at the moment, and very deservedly so. He has even been daring people to come and knock him off track, to which no one has been able to do to date. Throughout his MMA career to date, and especially in his UFC career, Pyfer has demonstrated a phenomenally exciting style that combines heavy hitting hands with extremely fast footwork. It has already led to some spectacular results, and it is going to be something that Alhassan has to get to grips with, quickly.

One prediction that we can make for certain is that Joe Pyfer will likely fly out of the traps early and look to set the pace and dictate the rhythm of this fight from the outset. If Alhassan cannot stop this, it could be a very tough night for him.

Abdul Razak Alhassan: Path to Victory – “Judo Thunder” On Display?

Like Joe Pyfer, Abdul Alhassan has extremely heavy hands. In fact, all twelve of his wins have all been finishes. This is something that Joe Pyfer will have to be very careful about when approaching this fight.

Abdul Alhassan desperately needs to kickstart some momentum, and he will have to try and do so against a marauding force in Joe Pyfer; however, he does have the power to get the job done. (Image Credit: MMA Junkie – USA Today)

A second, and perhaps more interesting factor for this fight is the fact that Alhassan is a Judo black belt. The reason I am making the prediction for this to be relevant is that Joe Pyfer’s most recent loss came from being slammed into the abyss. Perhaps tapping into his elite Judo ability will lead to much more success for Alhassan, especially in this fight – it might expose a real weakness in Pyfer’s game. Either way, my prediction is that this fight is going to be both extremely fascinating and intriguing in equal measure.

Official Prediction: “Bodybagz” To Claim Another Scalp

My official prediction for this fight is that Joe Pyfer will keep his win streak rolling, with Abdul Razak Alhassan the next victim of the Pyfer momentum train.

Truthfully, I think too many factors work in Pyfer’s favour for this fight. Alhassan has shown a real tendency to gas out in his fights, whilst Pyfer’s gas tank has been shown to be at least fairly solid in all of his fights so far. Especially when you factor in Pyfer’s fanatic foot work. As this factors in further, Pyfer will have the opportunity to implement his superior boxing, and should be able to put Alhassan in real trouble towards the end of this fight.

My official prediction is for Joe Pyfer to pick up another big win, and to make it another big highlight-reel statement too. I think he will finish Abdul Razak Alhassan via TKO in round two.

Make sure not to miss this fight – it is guaranteed to be a banger!