It had been assumed by many that UFC lightweight Anthony Pettis was going to be one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 17, opposite Donald Cerrone. The announcement of Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen obviously blew that assumption out of the water, so MMA Fighting got in contact with Pettis to ask what happened. It turns out that his recovery from shoulder surgery is apparently to blame:
“[I’m] still recovering from shoulder surgery,” he said, “and it’s taking longer than expected. I was hoping to get ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ gig because I was told it was me and [Donald] Cerrone coaching, and now it’s not happening. I’m just frustrated with everything, man.”
Pettis thinks he’ll be ready to go fairly soon though:
“I’m hoping to return in January,” he said.
I find it a tad curious that an injured Jones can coach, but an injured Pettis can’t. I’m guessing that coaching on the show involves a lot of physicality and Pettis is probably still worse off than Jones, but if he’d be ready to fight in January, wouldn’t he have to start camp in a few weeks anyway? At least he wouldn’t have had to fight until April if he was named as a TUF 17 coach.
Strange how these things work.
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