Andre Petroski Opens Up on Battle With Addiction

Andre Petroski has already won his biggest fight in life outside the Octagon. 

Petroski recently shared intimate details about his long battle with drugs. The Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight was introduced to opioids as a teenager by his neighbor’s mother. However, Petroski doesn’t blame anyone and admits he was always inclined to addiction.

“I was probably like 16, a freshman in high school,” Petroski told Home of Fight. “My neighbor’s mom would give us Oxy-80s. That was the beginning. This was back in the oxy era, like 2006… I’ve got it all—whatever you want to call it—the void, the addictive personality. That’s what made me a terrible addict. But it’s also what makes me a great fighter. I’ve got that fire.”

While he was training in MMA, Petroski was hesitant to turn pro due to the fear of drug testing. Petroski even revealed he used to look up if any then-active UFC fighters were addicts. After a point, Petroski used drugs not to get high but merely for survival. 

Everything took a drastic turn when Petroski went a Philadelphia neighborhood with a friend to score. While he usually used alone, this time he was with a friend as he overdosed on the way back. The friend dialled 911 and the paramedics came and revived Petroski. However, the fighter panicked seeing the medics and cops, and refused to go to the hospital. When asked to sign a form refusing treatment, Petroski threw the form into the air. That’s when a policeman pinned Petroski and held a stun gun to his head and the fighter urinated in his pants. 

“I came to and saw everything in the car—the cops, the ambulance—and I freaked out… I said no [I don’t want to go to the hospital], so she told me to step out and sign a form refusing treatment… I step out, throw the clipboard in the air, and just start booking it—right there on McDade Boulevard… And this cop jacks me up against the ambulance, puts a stun gun on the back of my head, and I piss myself,” Petroski said. “That was the moment. That was the wake-up call. Sometimes, you just gotta piss yourself to realize what you’re doing.”

Petroski’s life changed from there. After going to jail, he was sent to the Malvern Institute for treatment followed by a recovery house. Petroski found direction in life, turned clean and also met his now-wife at the recovery house. 

“I met people, got the help I needed, found a program, found God,” he said. “It’s not like I scream about it from a mountain or shove it down people’s throats. But I talk to God every day. I wake up and ask Him to keep me clean. At night, I thank Him for my life… We’re so far removed from that world. It feels like it was a different life.”

Petroski is 8-2 in the UFC and riding a three-fight winning streak. The 33-year-old returns to action this weekend against fellow veteran Edmen Shahbazyan this weekend at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.