Anthony Pettis suffered a fractured orbital bone in the first round of his unsuccessful title defense against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 185 this past Saturday night, but still fought on for the full 25 minutes before losing by unanimous decision on the judges scorecards.
Pettis mentioned to his corner a couple of times during the fight that he had an issue with his right eye and in his post-fight interview he confirmed that he’d been unable to see out of it since early in the opening round.
“Man, he caught me with the left hand, the first punch he threw, I couldn’t see out of my right eye the whole time,” Pettis told Joe Rogan. “It closed up on me, I didn’t have any peripheral (vision). No excuses, I’ve got to go back to the gym and train.”
Dana White later revealed that Pettis had a concussion and required 7 stitches for a cut to his right eyebrow, but it didn’t become apparent that he had fractured his orbital until the results of a scan came back.
The former lightweight champion is now expected to be out of action for six weeks and despite the setback is reported to be eager to get back into the Octagon as soon as possible as he looks to get back on track and work towards another shot at the title.
Meanwhile, the division’s new champion Dos Anjos is going to be out for three months due to an MCL tear he suffered prior to the fight, but the good news for him is that the injury won’t require surgery.
