On the OverDogs Podcast, Joe Pyfer first answered Mike Perry’s question about whether Americans are raising their children too soft. Pyfer believes that social ideas, discussions around gender identity, and promoting multiple genders are the reasons why men are not raised how they should be anymore.
Joe Pyfer then went on a rant about MMA fans when asked whether the fanbase has become too soft. He claimed that netizens don’t care about a fighter’s feelings, and he has experienced that after suffering losses.
“100%, bro. Everybody acts as if they care about each other’s feelings, bro. That’s not the case. The regular family doesn’t give a sh*t what I go through. They don’t care how I emotionally feel. They don’t care what bills I have to pay. They don’t care. They don’t care if I’m hurt. They don’t care. Like, I lost it, bro. I fought Jack Hermansson with walking pneumonia. I had two staph infections on a ton of antibiotics. I trained for two five-minute rounds for that fight. And I fought my a*s off and fought five rounds. The MMA community doesn’t give a fu*k. They don’t care. You know what? They say, ‘You suck. Fraud check. You’re the bomb.’ All this sh*t. Like, they don’t give a f**k, bro.”
Joe Pyfer added that social media reflects fake love, and fans don’t know how much courage it takes to don the gloves and step into a cage.
“The world is fake love on fake social media. And they don’t know what it takes.”
Meanwhile, Joaquin Buckley added that his confidence has never come from praise or compliments from fans, and he likes to disconnect from the internet. Whether ‘New Mansa’ wins or loses, he sticks to the same routine of eating, sleeping, and training. He also noted that fighters receive the most love when they’re winning, but the moment things go south, fans turn on them. Buckley said:
“For me, you know, I never got my confidence from compliments, right? So, ever since I came into the biz, like people were talking stuff, you know. So, I was one of those guys who only had about 2,300 followers, you know, but had some good knockouts and everything of that nature. And, you know, as soon as, you know, I had my fight with Kevin Holland, I got signed, like I was, everybody was already telling me I was going to get knocked out before I even went out there, right? And that and that did happen. I did get knocked out, right? And, you know, instead of, you know, having sorrow about myself or crying about it, guess where we at? Back in the gym, you know what I mean?”
‘New Mansa’ added that fighters fight to fuel their ego and don’t need to be applauded or booed.
“So now I’ve been on both sides, where I’ve been hated, and I’ve been loved. But at the same time, that stuff is not what fuels me. You know, what fuels me is being able to step out into that octagon and like I said, go out and do what I love to do because this is what we do every day… We do this for our own self-love when we step out there in the octagon. I don’t need you to applaud, you know?… So I don’t care about y’all boos.”
Buckley also advised fighters not pay heed to all the negative keyboard warriors have to say, as most of them will never dare to step in the octagon:
“So at the end of the day, I really feel like, you know, there’s been a lot of fighters unfortunately, right? When they see all the comments, you know, in the section, they really feel that way, right, about themselves. And I feel like, man, turn off that little comment section, bro. Like, who cares about what they say? Cuz they’ll never have the ba*ls to even step up, you know what I’m saying? And fight somebody. Period.”
Check out Joe Pyfer and Joaquin Buckley’s comments below (43:55, 47:07):
Joe Pyfer discusses why he disassociated from fans
Joe Pyfer revealed that after his 2024 loss to Jack Hermansson, some fans made blasphemous comments, which hurt his feelings to the core. He said:
“I [Joe Pyfer] felt super loved when I got in the UFC. When I finally made it. And then I fought Jack, and I lost. And you know, everybody was like, ‘Ki*l yourself, this, that, and the other.’ And it really hurt my feelings. That’s crazy. That’s wild. That’s wild… But I disassociated from it, and I was like, man, like I’m giving these people my time, my emotion, and they don’t even fu**ing know it. And I don’t even know for what… Like I don’t need to explain myself. It is what it is. Let these people let the fight community think I f***ing suck.”
Lastly, Joe Pyfer added that most fans do not understand why fighters disconnect from them, and it is solely because the Internet has no mercy.
