Anthony “Showtime” Pettis is planning to sue USADA for an injury he suffered before his fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 241 on August 17, 2019. The injury happened an hour before the fight. In an interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Pettis said USADA came to him to do a second drug test(via urine) and that “I’m closing the first bottle up. It’s like a twist cap. I’m twisting the cap. I put it inside of a plastic bag and I see blood.” The blood was coming from a cut on his thumb.
The cut was bad enough that Pettis says a UFC doctor looked at it and said “You need stitches. We can do two things. We can stitch you. And then you’ll probably bleed in the fight or we can glue you shut. And it’ll hold for the fight.” His coach Duke Rufus advised Pettis to not fight that night with the injury. However, Pettis felt he had a “Perfect training camp and felt amazing.” Pettis opted to glue the cut shut and use a flashlight to harden the glue.
In the fight, Pettis look compromised and made mention in between rounds that his hand was bothering him. This was the first time Pettis has made the injury public and said, “I couldn’t talk about it, because I gave USADA a chance to make it right. “Right now we’re going through the court. I’ve got to sue them.”
Anthony Pettis will face Diego Ferreira at UFC 246 on January 18.