Sergio Pettis had a long hill to climb long before he knew he was meeting Patricio Pitbull.
Eighteen months ago, Pettis picked up the biggest win of his career, throwing off a slow start to catch Kyoji Horiguchi with a spinning backhand from nowhere to end the fight and make his first Bellator bantamweight title defense.
The plan was for Betis to line up against a row of worthy competitors at the Bellator Bantamoete World Grand Prix, but a knee injury forced him out of the tournament and out of action until June.
Pettis made an inspirational comeback at Bellator 297, defeating Patricio Pitbull via unanimous decision to score another successful title defense and prevent Pitbull from claiming Division III champion status. Then, he used his post-fight speaking time to deliver a message of support for those struggling with mental health.
He explained that Bettis had in mind throughout the fight that he was going to make his speech MMA watch.
“Once I got there, I felt like this was where I had to be,” Bettis said. “There were little glimpses of it where I was like, ‘Okay, get that out of your head. “
But you know, honestly, all I kept thinking about that fight was speech after speech. I was like, I really want to get that message across to everybody, and through the rounds I got closer and closer to doing that, I kept thinking about that. Saying what I thought of saying. ‘This is crazy. Fighting is generally a crazy experience.'”
Bettis hasn’t spoken to a professional about his mental struggles, but credits his family, fiancée, and dog with helping him deal with anxiety, which he says he struggled with from a young age. He was now 29 years old when he made his MMA debut, and in many ways had grown up before the public eye.
This is one of the reasons why it was so important for him to use his platform to spread a positive message.
“I just feel like that was the reason I won this fight,” Pettis said. “Just to get my message across and talk about the things I’ve been through the last two years and my whole life dealing with social anxiety, anxiety itself.
“Even depression, last year I had a lot of depression that I didn’t realize could happen, and I just felt like I wanted to get this message out there and share it with everyone else who’s going through the same things and that it’s okay to feel these feelings and have these thoughts and that you just have to Keep moving forward and keep believing in yourself and believing in your timing. Believing in yourself and believing in your timing, really.”
The sabbatical and the uncertainty surrounding how he will perform after recovering from a serious knee injury wreak havoc on Betis’ mind. He won’t defend his title after beating Horiguchi, he won’t participate in a million dollar tournament, and he won’t do much of anything MMA-related for who knows how long.
A new experience for Betis for sure.
“I was definitely depressed,” Bettis said. “It was about three and a half weeks before I got to fight Raufeon [Stots]. You tore up your ACL, missed a chance to make a million dollars, and missed a chance to play three games last year. I just hung on the sidelines to recover and recover. Certainly different times for me.
“I’m very used to movement and training, and I just had to sit back, relax, and watch other people succeed. It was definitely a moment of humility.”
Looking back at it all now, Pettis used the word “again” to describe the effect his hiatus had on him, and once again credits his support system with helping him get through it. He’s found a whole new way to pin it now, even as he prepares for his next title defense against Grand Prix tournament winner and interim champion Pache Mix.
“It’s tough,” Bettis said. “Anyone who’s had an ACL injury or an injury that takes time off from what you love to do, you’re going to learn a lot about yourself. I’ve learned how much work I have to do as a person without my sport. My sport keeps me calm, it motivates me, I’m hungry and without any of that I was I was a bit lost.
“I was like, ‘Damn, who am I?'” What can I bring to the table? who am I?’ It was really neat, honestly, I put that chip on my shoulder to get into that mentality of where I am now, where I’m at peace but I’m ready for war.”