Anthony Pettis believes he has found the cure to what ails him as far as the current PFL season goes.
“I think what I’ve been doing is perfect. I’ve been focusing on my boxing, my basics,” Pettis told media outlets ahead of this week’s PFL 6 card, during a media day promoting the event. “When we get into that fight, I’ve got to watch his boxing honestly. I think I’m doing the right things.”
For Pettis, one of the Professional Fighters League’s biggest signings, what ailed him weeks ago was a stomach bug. That’s what scrapped a planned bout with Alex Martinez, pushing Pettis’ second PFL fight back to this Friday.
“Man I just got sick. Right before the press conference, before we went downstairs, my stomach was feeling sour,” Pettis revealed. “Then we go down to the press conference, we do the square off, I’m like ‘I’m not nervous, I’ve done this so many times, there’s no way I’m nervous.’ I go back to my room, started throwing up, and I had to call it. I think it was like a stomach bug, a flu or something, I just didn’t feel right. And once I started throwing up, I just couldn’t recover from that.”
The change-up means Pettis now faces Raush Manfio this Friday night. He’ll need a finish to make the league’s post-season, which has one fewer round this year.
“It’s kind of a little nerve-wracking, where you’re thinking about, now I need a finish. Not only do I need a win, I got to finish,” admitted Pettis. “But based on my last performance, I’m putting that on myself. I know I need to finish.”
Points involved or not, Pettis didn’t like how he looked in his last fight, he stated. “I took that personal. I went back to work, and I fixed little details that I needed to fix. I forgot that Aaron Rogers has a coach that shows him how to grab the ball properly. There’s things that you have to have reminded on a daily [basis], and I feel like I detached from that a little bit in that first camp. And in this camp, I’m back to having fun with the process.”
Watch the full PFL 6 media scrum with Anthony Pettis above. The event takes place this Friday, June 25 in Atlantic City, NJ, airing live on ESPN+ and ESPN 2 (TSN in Canada).
