A knee injury forced Anthony Pettis out of his planned UFC 163 title shot against featherweight champion Jose Aldo Jr. But according to UFC president Dana White, Pettis will still be in line for a title shot when he returns, whether it’s at featherweight or lightweight.
Speaking to reporters after UFC 161 in Winnipeg, White said “He’s definitely in line [at featherweight], but we’ll see what happens. He could do either – he could fight Aldo or he could fight the winner of [Ben] Henderson and T.J. Grant.”
White also said that Pettis won’t need surgery to repair his meniscus. “It’s not bad. Anthony Pettis’ knee is not bad, but it’s not good. He doesn’t require surgery, but he’s going to have to go into [physical] therapy.
“He talked to a doctor, and the doctor said he’s out for a good six weeks and he needs a good [physical] therapist and he needs to get his knee back,” White continued. “That’s what our doctor said. He talked to a therapist in Milwaukee who told him three weeks. I could give a s— what the therapist in Milwaukee thinks – I’m listening to the doctor. And I’m going to fly him out to Las Vegas to see Dr. [Steven] Saunders, too, for a second opinion.”
When push comes to shove, White is willing to wait for a healthy Pettis before deciding who the former WEC lightweight champion will next fight.
“I’m in no hurry,” White said. “Nobody’s more bummed out about the Pettis [-Aldo] fight than me. I was talking to you guys about it Thursday. But I’m not going to put Pettis in there in three and a half weeks when it should take six weeks for his knee to heal.”