UFC star Anthony Pettis has revealed he would be open to a bout with Conor McGregor at featherweight or lightweight, and he has also expressed his desire to win back his title from Rafael dos Anjos.
McGregor is scheduled to fight longstanding rival Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in December and, if he wins, has made his intentions clear to bulk up from featherweight to lightweight, a division he has previously branded as “slow” and “stuck in the mud,” per Adrian MacNair of MMAMania.com.
But Pettis claimed it’s fanciful thinking from the Irishman to think he can conquer the lightweight classes, per GNP1.de (h/t Mark Bergmann of BloodyYellow.com):
It’s not featherweight. Featherweight is… I mean, besides Aldo, there’s not much…, I mean, there is talent, Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes, (but) lightweight is the deepest division in the UFC, it’s a totally different story. For him to say, he’s gonna come up there and walk through everybody, it’s crazy. He’s only beat Chad Mendes, one guy in the featherweight class that’s top five. …
What happens after that (Aldo-McGregor) fight, we’ll see. People wanna see McGregor, I fight McGregor, people wanna see Aldo, I fight Aldo, that’s what it’s all about.
Pettis was a fighter who seemed to have the world at his feet prior to taking on Dos Anjos. Indeed, as he mentioned in the interview, there were options of fights with McGregor and Aldo at featherweight. Given the flashy manner in which he fights, Pettis going up against either would certainly make for an aesthetic spectacle.
But the brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was completely annihilated by Dos Anjos last time out, losing emphatically over the course of five rounds. Pettis revealed in the same interview that he’s desperate to get his title belts back from the Brazilian after his next fight, which will be against Eddie Alvarez:
“I want to compete and get my belt back. I was on top of the world, had a bad performance. That wasn’t me in that fight, you know? I feel like, if that fight would have happened 10 times, nine out of 10 I would have beat him. It was just that one day that I was off, I wasn’t myself.”
As we can see here courtesy of BT Sport UFC, it was a pretty galling defeat for Pettis, who had won his previous five fights in the build-up to the Dos Anjos clash:
Despite the disappointing showing against Dos Anjos, there’s still plenty of time for Pettis to get his career back on track. He’s a fighter who should have learned plenty from the nature of that loss and will be acutely aware that a strong performance against Alvarez will put him in the frame for some big opportunities further down the line.
McGregor could be one if he does beat Aldo and move up, but Jack Slack of Fightland is unsure whether the Irishman will jump to lightweight:
Pettis needs to re-establish his own reputation first, though. Alvarez will pose problems for the man from Milwaukee with his hand speed and revered durability. But Pettis’ own punching power, attacking variety and exceptional ground game makes him the big favourite for what will be an intriguing bout.
If McGregor does beat Aldo, there were will be plenty of people excited to see what he can do at lightweight. It would be a big challenge for the Irishman, with the reach advantage he typically enjoys at featherweight likely to be substantially reduced a division up. But despite public suggestions he is looking beyond Aldo, McGregor will only have thoughts for his grudge match with the Brazilian for the moment.
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