UFC Fight Night 236: Former Penncrest wrestler Joe Pyfer loses to Jack Hermansson

LAS VEGAS — His face scratched up after finishing the last three minutes of the fight on his back, Joe Pyfer knew he hadn’t done enough.

Pyfer, the former Penncrest High School wrestler, lost by unanimous decision to Jack Hermansson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 236 on Saturday at the UFC Apex.

“Jack was better tonight,” Pyfer said of the five-round middleweight bout.

“No excuses.”

» READ MORE: Joe Pyfer was homeless before a Penncrest High teacher helped him believe he could be a UFC star

Taken down in the center of the octagon, and with the Swedish-Norwegian Hermansson on top, Pyfer (12-3) was left defending himself from punches and elbows. He couldn’t wriggle free.

Pyfer landed a couple of hard right hands on Hermansson, ranked 11th in the middleweight division, in the first round.

But it was Hermansson’s jab that was effective, with Pyfer staggering backward in the third round.

“Despite how my face looks, I wasn’t rocked,” Pyfer said on Instagram. “I got punched in the eyeball — couldn’t see.

“When I lost vision, I lost that round and just couldn’t get it back.”

Hermansson, 35, said he knew his conditioning was superior to the 27-year-old Pyfer, whose rise in UFC led to his appearance in the main event of the annual Super Bowl weekend card. There has been hype surrounding Pyfer, who emerged in mixed martial arts after experiencing homelessness as a teenager.

“I feel like he got more exposure, and I understand why,” Hermansson said. “He has an amazing story. He should get a show like this. Then you have to perform to take it to the next level.

“I promise you, he’s going to do well. Now that he has this loss, he’s just going to grow from it.”

On the preliminary card, Jeremiah Wells dropped a split decision to Max Griffin in a welterweight bout. Fighting out of Philadelphia, Wells fell to 12-4-1.