Duke Roufus Discusses Stopping Anthony Pettis’ Fight at UFC 229

Duke Roufus, MMA trainer and coach for fighter Anthony Pettis, spoke to The MMA Hour this week and discussed Pettis’ fight with Tony Ferguson last Saturday (Oct. 6) at UFC 229. The fight was stopped by Roufus after the second round, when it appeared Pettis was injured. Below are some highlights.

Roufus on Pettis fighting Tony Ferguson: “Stylistic, this is a guy you can’t jab and grab and coast like boxing or muay thai with your hand damaged. Here’s the thing, Tony Ferguson is a very mean elbow expert. If you know anything about muay thai, the only thing that keeps an elbow expert off of you is hard punching and good clinching. With Anthony’s hand damaged, he couldn’t keep him off of getting elbowed. Secondly, you can’t clinch him or submit him with his hand jacked, so sometimes you can risk injuries in a fight. Against a guy like Tony Ferguson, who likes to hit people with those elbows, I just thought it was the right decision. … Tony is a hell of a fighter, his numbers speak for themselves and so his performances. Anthony was just so close to taking him out and he’s very resilient warrior.”

Roufus on the medical care he received as a fighter: “The medical care that was given at my day to fighters was garbage. I have so many bad injuries I’m living with, I wanna help guys and women I train not live the life I live because I live in pain daily. Boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, you can jab and grab and tie up and the referee will break you and you can stall when you clinch. (In) MMA, the action doesn’t stop, so when you’re a wounded animal in there, it’s easy to get taken out.”

Roufus on stopping the fight: “If you fire me because I stopped your fight I can live with that, no problem. And you’re gonna see me do that more because what I love more about MMA is a loss doesn’t define your career.”