Anthony Pettis’ coach Duke Roufus explains why he decided to end his fighter’s bout at UFC 229 before the third round.
Pettis went one-on-one with Tony Ferguson in the co-main event of UFC 229. “Showtime” and “El Cucuy” provided two rounds of exciting action. Pettis found success in the fight, knocking down Ferguson. As “El Cucuy” often does, he survived and found a way to get the better of Pettis in the second stanza. Pettis complained about a hand injury after the second round and the fight was stopped.
Duke Roufus Explains Why He Stopped The Fight
Roufus recently appeared on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour.” On the show, he explained to host Luke Thomas why he made the call to end the fight:
”Stylistic, this is a guy you can’t jab and grab and coast like boxing or muay thai with your hand damaged. Here’s the thing, Tony Ferguson is a very mean elbow expert. If you know anything about muay thai, the only thing that keeps an elbow expert off of you is hard punching and good clinching. With Anthony’s hand damaged, he couldn’t keep him off of getting elbowed. Secondly, you can’t clinch him or submit him with his hand jacked, so sometimes you can risk injuries in a fight. Against a guy like Tony Ferguson, who likes to hit people with those elbows, I just thought it was the right decision. … Tony is a hell of a fighter, his numbers speak for themselves and so his performances. Anthony was just so close to taking him out and he’s very resilient warrior.”
Roufus also revealed that Pettis’ hand fracture is behind the knuckle and that he will visit a specialist to see if he requires surgery. MMA News will keep you updated on Pettis’ injury status.
Do you think Duke Roufus made the right call?
