Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis has suggested giving up alcohol as the reason for his improved form as of late.
‘Showtime’ picked up a second successive win this past weekend when he beat unranked welterweight Alex Morono in the featured prelim at UFC Vegas 17. Earlier this year Pettis edged out Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 249 to snap a two-fight losing skid. The 33-year-old dropped successive fights against Carlos Diego Ferreira and Nate Diaz.
Speaking to Brett Okamoto after his impressive win at UFC Vegas 17, Pettis his recent good form on giving up alcohol, he said.
“When I won, I was like drinking because of celebration drinking. If I lost, I was drinking because of sorrow drinking. My diet would get sh*t and I would be all over the place with like my outside life. When I got to a training camp I was like 100% strict, but what you do outside of that camp really matters inside your camps. I think I was doing, like, these forced training camps coming off a win. I was coming off being happy and doing that sort of stuff. You know, I cleaned up that part of my life and I’m taking fighting more seriously right now. It feels good to see the progression and win two fights (in a row) for such a long time.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Pettis is technically a free agent after finishing up his UFC contract his past weekend. The former champion has no plans of going elsewhere though and immediately began talking about dropping back down to lightweight for a rematch with Tony Ferguson who has struggled lately. ‘El Cucuy’ fought and lost twice in 2020, suffering a TKO defeat against Justin Gaethje before being dominated by Charles Oliveira over three rounds at UFC 256 earlier this month.
Who do you think Anthony Pettis should fight next?