Joe Pyfer and Bo Nickal will headline UFC Cleveland on February 13. The matchup has been made official as the main event of the card.
The UFC has made official a middleweight main event for UFC Cleveland on February 13, with Joe Pyfer and Bo Nickal set to headline the card.
Pyfer, 30, enters as the higher-ranked fighter, sitting sixth in the middleweight division with a 16-3 record. The Team Balance product, nicknamed "Bodybagz," is coming off a second-round KO/TKO of Israel Adesanya at UFC Fight Night on March 28, 2026, his most recent recorded fight. That result extended a run of three straight wins in the fighter's recent record, which also includes a second-round submission of Abus Magomedov and a unanimous decision over Kelvin Gastelum. The orthodox fighter lands 3.52 significant strikes per minute at 44 percent accuracy and stands six-foot-two with a 75-inch reach.
Nickal, also 30, is 9-1 and ranked 14th at middleweight. The American Top Team Happy Valley fighter holds a pair of recent finishes: a first-round KO/TKO of Kyle Daukaus at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026, his most recent recorded fight, and a third-round stoppage of Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 322 in November 2025. His lone loss came by second-round KO/TKO against Reinier de Ridder in May 2025. The southpaw, who stands six-foot-one with a 76-inch reach, averages 3.35 significant strikes per minute at 61 percent accuracy, and brings a grappling-heavy profile with 3.1 takedowns and 2.5 submission attempts per 15 minutes.
Why it matters
- Ranking implications: Nickal sits eight spots below Pyfer, so a win for the unranked-gap underdog would be a significant jump up the middleweight ladder.
- Style contrast: Pyfer's takedown rate of 1.45 per 15 minutes is less than half of Nickal's 3.1, while Pyfer's 3.52 strikes landed per minute edges Nickal's 3.35, though Nickal is far more accurate.
- Physical gap: Pyfer is an inch taller, but Nickal holds a one-inch reach advantage at 76 inches to 75.
Both men are 30 years old, and both arrive off knockout wins, making the February 13 headliner a meeting of two finishers with sharply different approaches to the fight.
