Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis has broken bones in both hands and will require surgery, he wrote Monday on Instagram.
The injuries were sustained in a unanimous decision loss to Stevie Ray in the PFL lightweight semifinals last Friday. Pettis wrote that his left hand and his right thumb are broken. He didn’t mention how long he would be out, but his manager Abe Kawa of First Round Management replied in his Instagram comments “be back in no time.”
Ray won the semifinal fight and will fight Olivier Aubin-Mercier in the PFL lightweight championship bout later this year. Aubin-Mercier defeated Alex Martinez via unanimous decision last Friday in another semifinal contest.
Pettis (25-14) has lost two straight to Ray, including a PFL regular-season fight June 24. The Milwaukee native has lost four of five fights in PFL since coming over from the UFC last year. Pettis, 35, was the UFC lightweight champion from 2013 to 2015 and was the final WEC lightweight champion before that promotion was folded into the UFC.
