Don’t count on UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis breaking his leg in the Octagon any time soon.
A Taekwondo practitioner of 22 years, Pettis was asked Monday if seeing former middleweight champion Anderson Silva suffer the grisly injury would affect his fighting style.
“Not really,” Pettis told New York City’s HOT 97. “It was kind of an amateur mistake. He kicked a check and that’s like a basic kickboxing move. I mean, he’s probably done that a million times in his life and that was just the wrong time to do it. The wrong angle, the wrong pressure. But that doesn’t really make me kick differently.”
Silva broke his left tibia and fibula at UFC 168 in his rematch with current champion Chris Weidman and immediately underwent an operation to insert an intramedullary rod into the tibia.
“I think it looked ugly,” said Pettis. “It was nasty but that’s like saying in basketball when somebody twists or breaks their ankle, ‘You can’t dunk like that because he did it that way.’ It’s not even a factor.”
On the mend himself, Pettis has been sidelined with a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) since he took the title off Ben Henderson at UFC 164 in August of 2013.
Pettis reportedly suffered a partial tear in his left PCL against Henderson, tearing it completely eight weeks later at his first day back to full training.
“I checked a kick and just the wrong pressure, again,” said Pettis. “He hit my knee in the right spot, tore my PCL. It’s a common injury in what happens with car crashes when your knee hits the dashboard. The recovery wasn’t bad. Simple surgery. Recovery went perfect. It was just the time off. No kicking for six months. I’d been kickboxing my whole life so I just had a year of finding out a lot about myself.”
Pettis defends his lightweight title to Gilbert Melendez in the co-main event at UFC 181 Dec. 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Uniforms. UFC inks an exclusive deal with Reebok and plan to roll out a uniform program in July 2015.
Interesting. Dana White says ‘UFC won’t make a dime off’ its new Reebok deal.
Questions. Chuck Mindenhall ponders the pros and cons of the UFC’s new uniform deal, including paying fighters in accordance to their media rankings.
‘I expected this the whole time.’ Robbie Lawler discusses his career resurgence and getting another crack at Johny Hendricks. ‘I always thought I could be the best and that’s what I’ve been doing all these years.’
‘Mix thing up.’ Alexander Gustafsson wants his rematch with Jon Jones, but admits he wouldn’t mind seeing Daniel Cormier shake up the division.
MEDIA STEW
Catch interviews with Lorenzo Fertitta, Chris Weidman and Frankie Edgar reacting to Monday’s Reebok news.
UFC 181 Embedded episode 1.
Ronda Rousey on Reebok: ‘Exactly What I’ve Been Waiting For.’
UFC rankings report.
UFC 181: EA SPORTS UFC simulation.
TTTHS.
Rogan and Goldie call Mickey Rourke’s boxing match.
Long watches.
UFC special announcement press conference with Reebok
…
TWEETS
See how the pros reacted to Tuesday’s UFC uniform deal.
The time is now.
Welcome to the future! UFC / Reebok Launching International Fight Week July 2015 @UFCStore @Reebok #WhatDoYouFightFor pic.twitter.com/UvZKNHSsfq
— Dana White (@danawhite) December 2, 2014
Soon.
Good Bye San Francisco we r headed to Vegas. Time to go to battle! jakeshields joshclopton #SantaAna… http://t.co/3OJ0Voe6ng
— Gilbert Melendez (@GilbertMelendez) December 2, 2014
Ya we’re ready !!! S/O @hardmagnum and @nick_ostler great training session and shoot tonight!!… http://t.co/tThQGUwFki
— Anthony Pettis (@Showtimepettis) December 3, 2014
Only fighter reactions you need.
Here’s for your Bitchass uniforms.. http://t.co/Fqh2bAEZKC pic.twitter.com/2rYYsOI84l
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) December 3, 2014
Oh shit my phone was hacked today…
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) December 3, 2014
You know it man. RT @HayabusaHarris: @JoshLBarnett @Reebok @ufc pic.twitter.com/KKf8LqFapV
— Josh Barnett (@JoshLBarnett) December 3, 2014
To the haters.
All you Haters —> pic.twitter.com/6fzgOJGXy5
— Jake Ellenberger (@EllenbergerMMA) December 2, 2014
Get well soon.
therapy pic.twitter.com/3hEAM09TTa
— Erik Goyito Perez (@Goyito_Perez) December 1, 2014
Damn.
Well that didn’t go as planned @ufc, oh well back to the gym I go 😉 http://t.co/lm4bwl70NP pic.twitter.com/Beth8XrVUn
— Neil Magny (@NeilMagny) December 2, 2014
Congrats.
From set of the kickboxer remake!Pumped to be working alongside talents @JCVDonline @DaveBautista @GeorgesStPierre pic.twitter.com/cWhuqhzePx
— Joseph Valtellini (@BazookaJoeV) December 2, 2014
Pretty cool.
Thanks @easportsufc for the custom @ufc #PS4 @aidanwhite29 is beyond PUMPED http://t.co/ilG6yq7lvs
— Dana White (@danawhite) December 3, 2014
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Dec. 2 2014)
Neil Magny out, Jake Ellenberger vs. Josh Koscheck at UFC 184
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via HerrDannyboy.
Why 2013 Kicked this MMA Fan’s @ss Part 11: November: “1-3-5 and STILL”
Why 2013 Kicked this MMA Fan’s @ss Part 10: October: We have Science!
***
It’s Thanksgiving month and we fight fans have a plethora of free events to be thankful for and a sick 20th anniversary card headlined by Georges St-Pierre putting his title on the line against Johny Hendricks.
We start off the first Saturday of the month with what was supposed to be Bellator’s first pay per view event that finally ended up airing free on Spike due to Tito injuring his neck (while sticking it up his own ass) and pulling out.
Result
Alvarez beats Chandler and wins the Bellator Lightweight Championship by split decision to even the score 1-1.
He would never defend his belt and has since defected to the UFC.Emmanuel Newton beats King Mo by unanimous decision.
Daniel Strauss defeats Pat Curran by unanimous decision to win the Bellator Featherweight championship,
To sum it up: a solid showing by the number 2 promotion.
…
Check out the rest of the post here.
Found something you’d like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s column.