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Things keep going from bad to worse for Lightweight Anthony Pettis. Following UFC 144 where he knocked out Joe Lauzon and current champion Ben Henderson won a decision over Frankie Edgar, the masses were calling for the two fighters to rematch. Unfortunately for "Showtime", Edgar was granted a rematch in his stead. Pettis underwent shoulder surgery in the meantime while getting into a twitter feud with Donald Cerrone. There were talks that the two would coach TUF 17 and meet afterward, but that plan was scrapped in favor of Chael Sonnen vs. Jon Jones. Instead, they were expected to meet in January. Now, that may too be in jeopardy.
AXS TV's Inside MMA caught the story tonight and announced via Twitter:
BREAKING NEWS - @showtimepettis hospitalized with an infection in his elbow in the same arm as his surgically repaired shoulder
— Inside MMA (@InsideMMAaxstv) October 23, 2012
There's no news yet as to the nature or long-term impact of his hospitalization yet. We can only hope he's not facing as serious a situation as King Mo Lawal ran into earlier this year. After a knee surgery following his fight against Lorenz Larkin this past winter, Lawal suffered from a staph infection that sent him into serious condition. Since then, he has fully recovered and is expected to fight in January for Bellator.
UPDATE: MMA Weekly confirmed with Pettis' manager Mike Roberts that is a staph infection:
According to Roberts, Pettis was admitted after the discovery of the staph infection was made, and he immediately went in for treatment. Pettis’ manager did say however they don’t expect the infection to be anything serious, but he was admitted as a precaution.