However, what he didn’t reveal until recently was the circumstances leading up to the fight with USADA. He dropped a bombshell on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, revealing that he’s set to sue USADA for what happened.
Pettis said that when giving the urine test before UFC 241, the container for the urinary sample cut his right hand, preventing him from fighting to his true potential (H/T MMAFighting):
He revealed that coach Duke Roufus pleaded with him to pull out of the fight. However, Pettis didn’t want to lose the opportunity to face Diaz and as a result, UFC officials placed tape around the wound and removed it outside the cage to comply with the commission rules.
Pettis said that he doesn’t want any other fighter to be affected by this. He believes that the urinary test should be done right after the fight `for it to not affect them:
Duke Roufus was asked about the issue by MMAFighting and he admitted that he regrets letting Pettis fight. He explained how it affected his performance.
It’s interesting that all of this only came to light recently. Perhaps Pettis was being careful and didn’t want to make excuses but there’s no denying that it’s a flaw with the way the USADA system operates. Pettis certainly makes a point and we hope that this lawsuit results in USADA changing the way they go about with their operations. Otherwise, fighters will continue to suffer.
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