Anthony Pettis accidentally KOs his coach Duke Roufus

Holding pads for a fighter can sometimes be a thankless task in the gym, especially when the man throwing the strikes is a top-flight talent like former UFC Lightweight champion, Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis.

In the days leading up to Pettis’ title-winning encounter with Ben Henderson in 2013 the UFC cameras were rolling as he underwent a session on the mitts with his long-time coach, Duke Roufus.

Roufus is no stranger to eating a punch, or a kick for that matter, having been a multiple-time super heavyweight kickboxing world champion in the 1990’s, before moving on to become a highly regarded MMA coach.

However, he didn’t see this punch from Pettis coming, with the fighter misjudging a powerful right hand that connected clean to Roufus’ chin and dropped him like a sack of potatoes.

Oh, my bad! Pettis cringed as Roufus lay dazed on the mat.

I haven’t been knocked on my ass like that since 2001, Roufus admitted afterwards.

That’s the danger when you put yourself in the fire, but we have a saying with our team that we grind together to shine together, and hopefully I can live to talk about it.

By the looks of things, Pettis’ weapons were sharpened to perfection ahead of that fight, and indeed he would go on to defeat Henderson to claim the UFC title a few days later, adding to the WEC title he already had in his trophy cabinet.

The 3rd degree taekwondo black belt would then go on to successfully defend his title against Gilbert Melendez, before losing to Rafael dos Anjos in 2015.

Meanwhile, as well as continuing to train Anthony Pettis and his younger brother Sergio, Roufus has also worked with other leading MMA stars and was chosen by WWE wrestling superstar ‘CM Punk’ to get him ready to make his MMA debut in the UFC.