Bo Nickal says Joe Pyfer fight moved from UFC 335 to February in Cleveland
Bo Nickal says his middleweight fight with Joe Pyfer has been taken off UFC 335 in December and will instead headline a UFC event in Cleveland in February. The news comes from Nickal himself, and the UFC has not confirmed the change or announced the Cleveland card.
What Nickal said
According to Drew Beaupre of MMA Knockout on Sports Illustrated, Nickal made the announcement this week at a rally for Ohio governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. "I got a call backstage, and I do have some news, which is pretty exciting," he said, adding that the fight would be "main eventing in Cleveland". Sports Illustrated also quoted him saying the two would "go smash this guy and then go take the belt."
The fight had been scheduled for UFC 335 on December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Sports Illustrated report contains no official UFC statement, and no exact date or venue has been given for the Cleveland event.
The fighters
Pugna MMA data lists Pyfer at 16-3 and ranked No. 5 in the UFC middleweight division. He is coming off a second-round TKO of Israel Adesanya on March 28, and before that he beat Abusupiyan Magomedov by submission at UFC 320 and Kelvin Gastelum by decision at UFC 316. Ten of his 16 wins have come by knockout or TKO.
Nickal is 9-1 and ranked No. 12. He lost by TKO to Reinier de Ridder in May 2025, then returned with a third-round TKO of Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 322 in November 2025 and a first-round TKO of Kyle Daukaus at UFC Freedom 250 in June. Four of his nine wins are by submission and four by knockout or TKO.
A win would put either man closer to a title shot in a division where Pyfer already sits in the top five.
What comes next
The UFC has yet to announce the Cleveland card. If it goes ahead as Nickal described, it would be the promotion's first event in the city since UFC 203 in 2016, according to Sports Illustrated.
In our database UFC 335 still lists Charles Oliveira vs. Diego Lopes for the lightweight title in the main event, with Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alex Pereira, Brandon Moreno vs. Charles Johnson and Maycee Barber vs. Carli Judice also on the card. Until the UFC makes an official announcement, the February date, the location and the main event should be treated as Nickal's account of the plan, not as a confirmed booking.
Sources
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