Anthony Pettis has threatened to sue the United States Anti-Doping Agency after a drug test caused him a hand injury hours before his showdown with Nate Diaz.
Pettis welcomed the Stockton fighter back to the cage at UFC 241 last August after being out of action for more than two years.
Their welterweight clash went the distance but ‘Showtime’ came up short in the scorecards to suffer a unanimous decision loss to Diaz.
According to the former UFC lightweight champion, a huge factor on the loss was a hand injury, which stemmed from a drug test conducted by the UFC’s anti-doping partner.
“It was a perfect training camp, and then we go to the fight, I walk behind the scenes, USADA comes up like, ‘Hey, we need you to do a piss test for your drug test,’” Pettis told Ariel Helwani (via MMA Junkie).
Adversity
‘Showtime’ recalled the adversity he had to endure and blamed the last hour drug test by USADA for impacting his performance against Diaz.
“I did the first drug test, and it was too diluted because when you rehydrate, there’s too much water in you.”
“So they had to do a second drug test, but I had to wait until I had to pee again, so it was about an hour-and-a-half before the fight, I had to go again.”
“I did a piss test. I’m closing the first bottle up. It’s like a twist cap, so I’m twisting the cap, I put it inside of the plastic bag, and I see blood … blood in this bag, and I look at my hand, and I gashed my thumb on the USADA drug test.”
“I call the UFC (doctor) in. I’m telling USADA what’s going on; UFC doc comes in, and he’s like, ‘All right, you need stitches.”
“We can do two things: We can stitch you, and then it’ll probably bleed in the fight. Or we can glue you shut, and it’ll hold for the fight, but you won’t bleed for the fight, completely shut.’”
Making It Right
Pettis, then, defied his coach Duke Roufus, who wanted him to pull out of UFC 241 card, as he did not want to waste the ‘perfect training camp’ he had.
“My coach was like, ‘Nah, we’re not fighting.’”
“Duke didn’t want me to fight, but I had a perfect training camp. I felt amazing. And in my head I’m like, ‘Man, the cut’s on my thumb. They’re not going to stop a fight for blood on my thumb.”
“So for the fight, I couldn’t warm up, because if I punched, the glue would break open. I couldn’t grapple, because obviously my hand’s cut, so I’m out there with no warm-up, and you can see it in the fight.”
“It was a perfect training camp. I felt so good, and I go out there, and I (expletive) the bed. I was in my head on that fight. I used the wrong energy again, trying to knock him out.”
Now, Pettis and his camp are bringing the battle to the court as USADA failed to resolve the incident.
“I couldn’t talk about it because I gave USADA a chance to make it right. So right now we’re going through court, I got to sue them.”
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Anthony Pettis)