Andre Petroski, the UFC fighter who was reborn after overcoming his addictions: "I had no hope"

There are stories in sport that are worthy of framing and taking note of. Examples of overcoming adversity in sportsmen and women who had to overcome many obstacles to reach the top, and this is the case of UFC fighter Andre Petroski, who in a recent interview explained all the demons he had to overcome to get to where he is.

Andre Petroski, 33, is a fighter who has not only beaten his opponents, but also life. The American began practicing mixed martial arts in 2015, the year he made his long-awaited debut and by 2018 he was already a professional. His life is tied to fighting, but along the way he had a much more important fight, against drugs and addiction.

Through social networks, the page Home of Fight published an interview where Petroski opened up completely and revealed the problems he had with drugs during his growth and that this could even have cost him his life.

"I was about 16 years old, first year of high school. My neighbor's mom used to give us Oxy-80s. That's how it all started. It was the time of oxy, around 2006. I didn't even get high to feel good, it was to not feel bad," explained the UFC fighter.

"It became like a job. You'd be out of training really late and you couldn't even go straight home, you had to get something for the next day or you'd be fucked. I had it all, call it emptiness, addictive personality, whatever. That's what made me a fucking addict. But that's also what makes me a fucking fighter. I've got that fire inside me," he added.

The hardest fight

Petroski commented in the interview that he was becoming more and more dependent and that at the same time in these situations it is increasingly difficult to get out, so he decided to leave on his own initiative. "I lasted about three days lying on the couch, but I never saw the way out. It was horrible."

The turning point came when he started doing drugs with a friend and that's when he realized everything. "I almost always got high alone, but not that time. And the truth is, that's what saved me." To begin to get out of drugs, he went for the option of Subxone, which is a medication to treat opioid dependence and that ended up saving him.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Andre Petroski ended up attending a rehab center in Malvern and slowly found light and stability. "I got help, I found a program, I found God. I don't go around preaching or anything, but I talk to God every day. I wake up and ask him to keep me clean. At night, I thank him for being alive," he confessed.

Petroski managed to get out of the bottom and achieve his goals as a UFC fighter. At 33 years old, he has a great career and, most importantly, he has a wife and daughter who him every day. In fact, he met his wife in rehab and she herself is confident that they are living a very different life from those days.