Pettis broken eye orbit, RDA partially torn MCL
Anthony Pettis left UFC 185 with a broken eye orbit that will require six weeks to heal. Rafael dos Anjos entered the fight with a partially torn MCL and a nose injury.
Pettis’s manager Mike Roberts appeared Wednesday on UFC Tonight, and said the fighter suffered a fractured orbital bone in the first round vs. Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 185 on Saturday. Pettis is expected to be out of action for six weeks.
Roberts said Pettis remained in Dallas, TX until Tuesday as a precautionary measure, and that he will received follow up treatment in his native Milwaukee, WI.
In a post fight interview, Pettis said dos Anjos hit him cleanly in the first round, with in fact the first clean shot of the fight, and that he could no longer see after the first round. Pettis was also quick to add that this was no excuse for his performance, but rather a description of what happened.
In fact, new UFC lightweight champion dos Anjos will be out for three months, twice as long as Pettis, with a partially torn MCL and a nose injury.
Dos Anjos’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz said both of the fighter’s injuries were suffered before the fight, and were such that he counseled cancelling the fight, but was over ruled.
The nose injury was such that he could breathe only through one nasal passage, and that was at 70%. In positive news, the knee injury will not require surgery; rehabilitation is expected to be sufficient.
As Dos Anjos will be able to begin training in three months, it now seems highly likely that his first title defense will be against the winner of Donald Cerrone vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov on May 23 at UFC 187.