Dustin Stoltzfus happy with Dana White's praise but acknowledges he has much to prove

Don't expect Dustin Stoltzfus to become complacent now that he has a UFC contract and the attention of Dana White.

LAS VEGAS –  Despite receiving plenty of praise from UFC president Dana White, Dustin Stoltzfus isn’t entirely satisfied just yet.

Stoltzfus (13-1) defeated Joe Pyfer via injury TKO at Dana White’s Contender Series 28, which earned him a UFC contract.

After a back-and-forth first round, Stoltzfus picked up Pyfer and slammed him, causing Pyfer’s arm to dislocate in gruesome fashion, and the fight was waived off at the 4:21 mark of Round 1. Stoltzfus admits that due to the abrupt ending to the fight, he was a little concerned about not earning a contract but was confident that his body of work overall was enough to secure one.

“A little bit,” Stoltzfus told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Tuesday after his win at the UFC Apex. “I need to watch the fight, but I had the feeling that it was a pretty interesting fight, so I wasn’t too concerned with that. Plus my record is good. If you look at my other fights, they are exciting fights with a lot of cool finishes, especially in my last six or seven, so I was just more taken aback by the injury myself because we hit the ground, and then his broken arm right in front of my face, and it was sort of gross.”

White was impressed with Stoltzfus, saying that he expects big things out of the Germany-based middleweight, but Stoltzfus isn’t about to get complacent.

“I have a lot to prove yet,” Stoltzfus said. “A lot of people, as soon as I got the chance to fight at Contenders, they’re like, ‘You made it, you did it.” It’s like, no I haven’t. I’m fighting another guy with regional experience, and I haven’t fought – I fought some people that I think are UFC level, but I haven’t fought anyone who’s been in the UFC and has really proved their worth as a fighter at the very top level. So I got a lot to do, a lot to work on and a lot to prove. A lot to show you guys.”