Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis has been pulled from Thursday’s PFL 4 card due to illness, and will now fight at PFL 6 instead.
MMA Fighting confirmed with sources with knowledge of the changes that Anthony Pettis has been forced to withdraw from PFL 4 due to an illness. Two-time lightweight champion Natan Schulte (20-4-1) will take Pettis’ place to fight Alexander Martinez (8-0, 1 NC) on the main card, while Pettis has been rescheduled to face Raush Manfio on June 25.
It’s disappointing news for Pettis that he has to withdraw from Thursday’s fight, but fortunately, the promotion was able to re-book him in rather short order for the fight with Manfio. In fact, Manfio and Schulte are training partners and didn’t necessarily want to fight each other, so it actually might work out for everyone that the matchups were switched around. Hopefully, Pettis is able to get healthy quickly and get back in the cage.
A former UFC and WEC champion, Pettis was one of the most popular fighters in the sport during the 2010s. However, instead of continuing to fight in the UFC, he decided to make a run for the $1 million grand prize and signed with PFL as a free agent instead. His debut fight against Collard was not the performance that Pettis obviously wanted as he lost the fight, but hopefully he is able to bounce back and show the world he still has it on June 25.