After more than a year of octagon absence, Jack Hermansson came back with a unanimous decision win over Joe Pyfer at UFC Vegas 86.
The two headlined the event in a middleweight bout, where Pyfer tried to be aggressive in the initial part of the match by sending the opponent some hard shots. In the first two rounds, the young fighter tried early knockouts by sending some powerful punches to Hermansson. This, nonetheless, didn’t deter the veteran.
Later, the robust performance of “Bodybagz” gradually faded, with his combinations starting to diminish. As such, with the young fighter just throwing one shot, Hermansson began his work of predicting his fellow fighter’s movements. “The Joker” then countered the attacks, allowing him to give Pyfer a cut to his nose. Hermansson continued delivering punches and kicks, with Pyfer admitting that “the shift in this fight was literally the calf kicks.”
Although Hermansson wasn’t able to end the fight with a finish, he made a statement in the final round by making a takedown. In this position, the Swedish-Norwegian took control, with Pyfer unable to escape. Before the time ran out, Hermansson gave the young fighter some ground strikes, sealing his win via a unanimous decision.
“I know that people underestimate my boxing skills because of some less good performances, but I believed in myself, especially in a long fight — nobody has the cardio I have,” Hermansson said about his victory in his post-fight interview. “I got hit in the beginning more than I should have, but the plan was to put on the pace the more the fight went. I drown people when I do that.”
The result gave Pyfer his first octagon loss, which also snapped his three-fight winning streak. As for Hermansson, the victory brought him back to the winning column after losing to Roman Dolidze via TKO in December 2022. The Georgian fighter extended his win when he defeated Marvin Vettori last March but later lost to Nassourdine Imavov this month. Now, instead of Dolidze, Hermansson is hoping to fight Imavov. In his post-fight interview, the 35-year-old voiced some of his requests alongside his callout to the fighter.
“I’d love to have at least two more fights this year,” Hermansson said. “First of all, legalize MMA in Norway; it’s really important for me. Second of all, I would love to fight in Sweden again. And third of all, what about Nassourdine Imavov from last weekend? I think that would be a great opponent.”
