Roufu sportsaying that after the death of longtime trainer Duke Roufus last year, training there no longer felt right.
Former Bellator MMA the bantamweight champion prepares to face off Joji Goto at
PFL Dubai Nov. 14 at Coca-Cola Arena. Pettis said returning to the Milwaukee gym without Roufus, who coached him when he was 13, was emotionally difficult.
Sergio Pettis discusses leaving his longtime Milwaukee gym and finding new training partners ahead of PFL Dubai
“I’ve been with Duke since I was 13 and him not being there was very strange,” Pettis said in an interview with Bloody Elbow. “I was still working out at Roufusport, I wanted to leave a legacy, but going to the gym didn’t feel right. I went there, I was sad and I was just trying to keep things going and it didn’t feel right. I outgrew that place a long time ago and leaving Duke meant that and I needed to make some changes.”
Pettis has split his training time between Valle Flow Striking in Illinois and Pura Vida and Wanderley Jiu-Jitsu in Milwaukee. He said he found trainers and training partners better suited to his current needs.
“I found some new training partners and coaches that are a better fit for me at the moment,” Pettis said. “That’s what I had to go through and these last few months have been a new journey where I’ve been moving to different gyms and I haven’t been to Roufusport at all.”
Roufus died in October 2025 at the age of 55, shortly after beating Pettis by knockout to win the fight. Magomed Magomedov in Dubai.
