He’s not going to stop, and it’s that intensity and pressure that has become his trademark. That could be bad news for Yu, who is making his middleweight debut after fighting his first two Octagon bouts at heavyweight and light heavyweight. Making that transition after a long layoff has to be a big question mark in Yu’s mind, and Petroski is happy to make even more questions surface on fight night.
“As we can see, he’s had some adversity,” said Petroski. “He got popped by USADA (in 2019), he’s dropped a couple weight classes, he’s lost some fights, so I’m sure at some point the question is in his head of ‘Am I gonna make it here or not?’ And that’s my job to further remind him.”
So what does a former heavyweight have to dread about fighting at 185 pounds?
“That pace, and when I watched him against Rashad Coulter, you could see that he gasses,” said Petroski. “A pace of a 205-pounder is not the same as the pace of an ‘85-pounder. That’s big – the pace and speed is totally different.”
You can almost see Petroski smiling through the phone as he talks about the bout. Or maybe that’s just Rylee making dad grin from ear to ear.
“Not that I know what the older years are like, but I wouldn’t trade this age for anything,” said Petroski of his daughter. “The first year for me was brutal, and the second year was awesome, and since she turned two, it’s been even better.”
Petroski earned it. All of it.
Don’t miss the ESPN+ special presentation of UFC 267: Blachowicz vs Teixeira on Saturday October 30th, 2021. Please note special broadcast times — prelims begin at 10:30am ET/7:30am PT, with the two-title fight main card starting at 2pm ET/11am PT.
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