Pettis suing USADA after suffering hand injury an hour before Diaz fight.
UFC superstar Anthony Pettis recently revealed that he cut open his hand just hours before his clash with Nate Diaz at UFC 241, thanks to a last minute drug test. In an interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Pettis explained how he gashed his finger while securing the glass bottle from his USADA test.
“So they had me do a second drug test, but I had to wait until I could pee again. So it was like an hour and a half before the fight so I had to go again and I told the USADA guy to let’s go get it done.”
“I did the test and I’m closing the first bottle up, it’s like a twist cap. So I’m twisting the cap and I put it inside the plastic bag and I see blood. So I’m just like what the fuck! So I look at my hand and I gashed my hand on the USADA drug test.”
Although some members of his camp wanted him to withdraw from the fight, Pettis ultimately got glued up and went the distance with Diaz, losing by unanimous decision. As a result of the freak injury, Pettis revealed to Helwani that he is suing USADA.
“I couldn’t talk about it because I gave USADA a chance to make it right. So right now we’re going through court, I got to sue them,” says Pettis.
“The rules are that the person administrating the drug test can’t touch the glass bottle we put it in. So I had to touch the glass bottle, I had to close it. I had given them a piss test before, so this was my second piss test of the night.”
The 32-year old fighter will return to the octagon this Saturday at UFC 246, as he goes up against Carlos Diego Ferreira in a Lightweight bout.