...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Anthony Pettis didn't want to pull out of his fight with Jose Aldo at UFC 163. The top lightweight contender had been ready to make the drop to 145 lbs. for that fight and that fight alone this summer, but on his last day in Brazil to train and promote the event this month, he hurt his knee in training.
The knee swelled up on his way home to the U.S., and the meniscus tear was revealed when he got an MRI, but he still didn't want to pull out. He wanted to fight, but the UFC found out about the injury and pulled him.
"I'm stuck on the back of the bus again in two weight classes," said Pettis on Monday, in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. "I did everything under my power to make it happen, the UFC is looking out for what's best for my health, I can't knock them for looking out for my health."
"I can't believe it happened, man. I missed another title shot that slipped out of my fingers. I felt fine, I'm a couple weeks out from the fight, probably the best I've ever felt I felt invincible in training, I was so on point. For this to happen, it's unfortunate. I couldn't sleep the last couple days thinking about what was going to happen."
Pettis tried to get himself plugged into the UFC 164 main event against Benson Henderson, believing he'll be healed up and ready to fight then, but that would mean taking T.J. Grant out of a spot he's earned, and UFC President Dana White wanted Pettis to get a second opinion anyway. Still, regardless of how that plays out, Pettis said he had to try.
"My doctor's exact words were, 'come Aug. 3, you're going to be sitting at home at 100 percent,' and I'm like, 'damn, I could have made this fight,'" Pettis lamented. "I mean, you know, I'm freaking out, I'm trying to figure out a way to fix this and looking at all possibilities, so you can't knock me for trying, you know? It's in my hometown."
"T.J. Grant earned his shot I'm not going to say I should be fighting and T.J. Grant didn't earn his shot. T.J. Grant earned his shot an he's there for a reason, I don't want the fans to think I'm trying to take his position or anything like that, but at the same time, you can't knock me for trying. I want a title shot so bad."
Though the resumes of both fighters are comparable as of late, Pettis still has one trump card that he feels hasn't held enough weight to this point: the fact that he's beaten Henderson once before.
"I'm the last guy to beat Ben Henderson, no matter what," Pettis said. "My name never gets brought up out of his mouth for some reason. I'm not going to say he's ducking me, but for some reason, when it comes to fighting Pettis, he's all against it."
Penick's Analysis: Pettis is in desperation mode, and it's highly unfortunate for him right now when he feels he could have soldiered through the injury to fight Aldo, and thinks he'll be healthy for Milwaukee. There's still an outside chance that the UFC could plug him in against Henderson if their Las Vegas doctor clears him, and really you can't criticize him for trying to get in that fight. It was worth a shot, whether it pans out or not, and it was the UFC who pulled him from the Aldo fight due to the injury, not him dropping out because of it. If he doesn't end up getting the UFC 164 booking, it will probably be in his best interest to wait out the winner of that fight this time around, and hope that nothing else delays his long-awaited shot.
(Attention MMATorch app users: Make sure to upgrade to the latest edition of the MMATorch app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device!)
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
