Anthony Pettis pulled from PFL 4 due to illness, gets new opponent for PFL 6

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.

Pettis was set to fight Alex Martinez in his second regular-season fight for PFL after losing a unanimous decision to Clay Collard in his promotional debut in April. However, AG Fight is now reporting that Pettis is out of the fight due to illness. Instead, defending PFL lightweight champion Natan Schulte will now fight Pettis’ opponent Martinez on Thursday night, and Pettis will return on June 25 when he takes on Schulte’s opponent Raush Manfio.

URGENTE: Anthony Pettis passa mal e é retirado do card do PFL 4. Natan Schulte o substitui na luta contra Alexander Martinez. Mais informações em instantes no site da Ag Fight!

— Ag. Fight (@AgFight) June 9, 2021

URGENT: Anthony Pettis is sick and removed from the PFL 4 card. Nathan Schulte replaces him in the fight against Alexander Martinez. More information in a moment on the Ag Fight website!

Troca-troca! Fora do evento desta quinta-feira, Anthony Pettis deve enfrentar Raush Manfio no dia 25 de junho!

— Ag. Fight (@AgFight) June 9, 2021

Swap-swap! Outside of this Thursday’s event, Anthony Pettis is expected to face Raush Manfio on June 25th!

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.

Do you think Anthony Pettis can turn things around and win the PFL lightweight tournament?