Pettis on Roufus critics: The truth will come out
Anthony Pettis: “The truth will come out… For every bad story there’s 100 people training in the gym that love the culture and love what’s going on here.”
Earlier this week investigative journalist John Diedrich looked into the death of kickboxer Dennis Munson Jr. Diedrich pointed to a number of shortcomings that could have contributed to the death, including a lack of regulation and inattention by the corner, referee, and ringside doc.
Former Roufusport fighter Rose Namajunas read the piece and drew parallels between the death on Munson and training at Roufusport, using messages she in turn had received from former members of the academy.
“It’s very sad, what happened,” Pettis told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We all addressed it when it happened. It happened months ago. I wasn’t in town when it happened; I heard about it. Of course, I’m friends with all these guys, I’ve met all these guys. It’s sad, it’s a sad thing that happened.
“We all know when we get in this Octagon or kickboxing ring, anything can happen. It’s a rough sport. But no one imagines something like that would happen.”
“It just upsets me that people are taking to their blogs and their websites to directly attack the coaching as being the factor in what happened. There are a lot of things that happened that made that outcome. It wasn’t one person’s fault. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t the referee’s fault. It was a combination of a lot of things that led for this to happen. And all we can do is take precautions and be safer next time.”
“The thing that gets to me is that they’re attacking guys that I look at as fatherly figures. My family, to me. This is a family here. When you attack one of us, you attack all of us.
“I’m not getting too personal with it. I know the truth will come out, and then people will see how it is. For every bad story there’s 100 people training in the gym still that love the culture and love what’s going on here.”
“Everyone has their opinion. I’m focused on my fight. Rest in Peace to Dennis. That’s the saddest thing that happened, and that’s what it should be about. Not about the coaching, and personal vendetta. It should be about the kid that lost his life.”
“I’ve been through a lot in my life. I lost my dad at a young age. I’ve dealt with death before. And I know that the team here, we all support one another. We support each other. When we’re sad, we’re all sad together. When we’re frustrated, we all have to be frustrated together. When someone’s getting attacked, we’re all getting attacked.
“But at the same time, like I said, the truth will come out. Everybody knows how Duke is. Duke’s not hiding. He’s doing interviews. He’s talking to the media. The story was one-sided. We didn’t address that story at all, so it was one side. They can make it look however they want, but the saddest thing is Denis dying. That’s what it should be about.”