Written by Andreas Hale at YahooSports.com
Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis was the apparent victim of an attack that saw three of his vehicles set on fire in the driveway of his Milwaukee home early Thursday morning.
The news was first reported by Fox 6 when a witness noticed something wasn’t right in the neighborhood.
“I saw a car speeding through the neighborhood,” said Carson Blaszak. “Right around the same time as that happened, there was kind of a large bang. It was three cars caught on fire. I just, I ran outside, and I was hoping, you know, the house hopefully wasn’t gonna catch on fire.”
The cars belonged to Anthony Pettis, who recently had his next fight announced against featherweight Max Holloway at UFC 206 in Toronto, Canada. The fire was no accident as Milwaukee police are investigating as a case of arson and suspect that an accelerant was used on the first two vehicles, which caused the fire to spread to a third car.
Fortunately, the police and fire departments responded quickly and were able to contain the fire before it spread to the Pettis household.
After initially refusing interviews regarding the incident, Pettis took to Instagram to make a statement.
“I won’t be defeated by this,” Pettis said. “I am also extremely confused and saddened by the events that occurred. I am grateful that no one was harmed by this cowardly act. My life as well as my loved ones were put in danger. I cannot understand why someone would want to hurt myself or my family.”
Although Pettis said that he’s aware of the uptick of criminal activity, he held firm that this won’t push him out of Milwaukee.
“I will do everything I can to ensure that we find out who committed this crime and that they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he continued. “I’m constantly defending my choice to stay in this city. Regardless of the crimes that have been occurring lately, this is my home. I really hope the city that I rep has my back on this one and helps by reporting anything they know about this.”
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