Like a fine wine, Mike Pyle has continued to get better and better with age.
The 38-year-old Las Vegas resident, who is nicknamed “Quicksand” because of his ability to trap opponents in submissions and not let them out, finally made it to the UFC as a 33-year-old in 2009 and has since gone 8-4 while competing against the top welterweight fighters in the Octagon.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch UFC 170 preliminary fights Saturday on Sportsnet 360 starting at 8 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. PST
In his UFC career, Pyle has defeated Rick Story, James Head, Josh Neer, Ricardo Funch, Ricardo Almeida, John Hathaway, Jesse Lenox and Chris Wilson. His losses have come to Matt Brown, Rory MacDonald, Jake Ellenberger, and Brock Larson – three of the current top 10 welterweights in the world and Larson, who Pyle lost to in his UFC debut after taking the fight on extremely short notice and cutting a massive amount of weight in a short amount of time.
Between 2012 and 2013, Pyle reeled off four-straight wins, including three by knockout, before finally losing to Brown last summer at UFC Fight Night 26. But he showed in his T/KO wins over Head, Neer and Funch, and in his split decision win over Story that he has improved his skillset immensely and now, at the age of 38, he’s the most complete mixed martial artist he has ever been.
Before he made it to the UFC in 2009, Pyle was 17-5-1 with 14 of those wins coming by way of submission. Just two of those fights were won via knockout. So in the last two years, between the ages of 36 and 38, Pyle has more knockout wins than he did in the 13 years of fighting he had did before that (his career began in 1999). Pretty amazing, and it shows just how hard he has worked in the gym to round out his game and become more than just a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter.
And that’s another point that’s important to bring up. Prior to his UFC run, and even in his first few fights in the big show, Pyle was known as one of those ‘gym warriors,’ a guy who always kicked butt in the gym but when it came time to perform in the actual fight, he faltered. But for whatever reason, something has clicked for Pyle and he is no longer just beating guys up inside the gym walls, he’s now doing so inside the eight-sided Octagon cage. And that makes for a very dangerous fighter.
Although Pyle at 38 is one of the oldest fighters in the UFC, and although he’s never had the best chin, this is a fighter who is a bad matchup for a lot of fighters in the welterweight division due to his multidimensional skill set, big-fight experience, and fight IQ. Pyle’s a smart fighter and as long as he’s not getting clipped in the chin, he’s always competitive in his fights.
This weekend at UFC 170, Pyle looks to win his ninth fight in the Octagon when he takes on skilled submission artist TJ Waldburger, who is 13 years younger than Pyle. It’s a fight that Pyle needs to win if he wants to maintain his position in the top 15 or 20 of the UFC welterweight division, and it’s a fight that’s a must win for Pyle if he ever wants to reach his goal of becoming the 170-pound champion of the UFC.
To be honest, tough, as much as I like him and even with GSP’s leave of absence opening up the division to other contenders, I don’t think that Pyle is ever going to be the champ. But that’s okay. Because being a solid, well-rounded fighter who puts on a show for the fans is sometimes just as good. And that’s exactly what Pyle is, and it’s why he’ll have a spot on the UFC roster for as long as he wants to stay in the sport.