Pettis tore PCL, faces surgery, will be out up to eight months

Yesterday UFC Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis revealed he had torn the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his left knee. This is the very same knee he injured in his last fight in August where he won the title from then-champion Ben Henderson.

The PCL partially tore in August, and Pettis complied with his doctor’s order to rest it for six to eight weeks. Unfortunately, his very first day back in training, Pettis checked a kick and completely tore the same ligament.

Pettis consulted three doctors and received contradictory prescriptions, and said he was seeking out a fourth opinion. If that doctor recommended surgery, Pettis was going to go through with it.

At today’s UFC 167 media event UFC president Dana White said that Pettis would in fact undergo surgery to repair his torn PCL. White says that Pettis will be out for up to eight months. The December 14 fight with Josh Thomson is of course cancelled; no announcement was made about who Thomson might face, if anyone.

There will be no interim title in the meantime.