Anthony Pettis reacts to missing weight for first time in career: 'My body just gave out'
TORONTO -- Saturday night will mark Anthony Pettis' 25th professional fight, and for the first time in his career, he'll be competing after missing weight the day before.
Pettis weighed 148 pounds Friday morning, missing weight by three pounds. As a result, if he beats Max Holloway at UFC 206 Saturday night, he will not become the interim featherweight champion. Holloway, however, would win the title, if he beats Pettis. Pettis also has to give Holloway 20 percent of his purse.
According to Pettis, who spoke exclusively to MMA Fighting following the weigh-ins, he arrived in Toronto weighing 153 pounds, which is seven pounds lighter than he weighed when he arrived in Vancouver prior to his featherweight debut against Charles Oliveira in August.
Pettis said he he got down to 146.5 pounds before his team decided he would not be able to lose any more weight.
"It was a team call," Pettis said. "My body just wouldn't let go of that extra weight. It's just one those things. We did everything right beforehand, everything was on point. My body just gave out. I had nothing left to give.
"In the end, we decided that my career and health are more important than those two extra pounds."
Pettis said he became concerned when every time his body temperature rose he started feeling light headed and began to gag. He tried cooling off, but again, the same thing would happen when he tried to sweat. He also said he had hard time control his breathing and started to develop acid reflux.
"It was definitely a different feeling," he said. "I've never felt like that in my life."
So Pettis' team called a UFC doctor, who advised against going to the hospital, but was on board with the idea of not losing any more weight. Pettis rehydrated a little bit before stepping on the scale, thus weighing in three pounds over the featherweight limit.
Pettis, who was clearly disappointed when talking about missing weight for the first time in his ten-year career, said he has turned his phone off and is not interested in hearing what anyone has to say about his misfortunes.
As for his future as a featherweight, Pettis said he wouldn't make any decisions now. He believes he did everything right to make weight, but is now solely focused on fighting Holloway. He even refused to harp on the fact that he can no longer win the interim belt Saturday night.
"I'm not here for the interim belt," he said. "Originally, this fight wasn't for the belt. The plan has always been to just beat Max Holloway.
"And he's not beating me tomorrow night."