Anthony Pettis is one of the best lightweights in the history of mixed martial arts.
This was hardly in doubt even before Pettis faced Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC 185. His ability to finish the tough and durable top contenders in his division made him one of the UFC’s brightest shining stars, a potential massive pay-per-view draw.
But injuries have derailed Pettis in recent years, preventing him from obtaining the kind of exposure that could increase his own personal brand. A recent change in his training methods, dialing back both the intensity and length of his training sessions and nearly eliminating weight training on days he sparred with a live opponent, helped keep him healthy and prepared to return to the Octagon just four months after his last fight.
Pettis brought a four-fight finishing streak into the Octagon, which is nearly unprecedented in UFC championship bouts. And he went into the fight as a significant favorite over dos Anjos, who was seen by most as mere fodder in Pettis‘ title reign.
But mixed martial arts is a cruel and often fickle beast. Instead of a glorious finish and another title defense, Pettis was instead beaten and battered by dos Anjos for five rounds.
The official decision was a foregone conclusion when it came: Dos Anjos had won all five rounds, and none of them were close.
In terms of fighting output, Pettis barely made a blip on the radar. Dos Anjos controlled the center of the Octagon with 100 precent efficiency. He brutalized Pettis in the striking department, especially against the wall of the cage. And he took the now-former champion down at will and controlled him with authority on the ground. Pettis simply had no answer for anything dos Anjos offered.
And what dos Anjos offered is incredible. The man who lost to the ageless Gleison Tibau at UFC 139 is nowhere to be found. Under the tutelage of Rafael Cordeiro, dos Anjos‘ striking game has improved dramatically. He throws with power. His defense is superb. His ground game has never lacked. And he showed all of it against Pettis, who was left resorting to the kind of post-fight excuses one expects when a champion loses to someone he did not expect to lose it. Pettis said his eye was hurt in the first round and that he could not see anything from that point forward.
And while that may be true, dos Anjos‘ manager Ali Abdel-Aziz said after the fight that the new champion tore his MCL three weeks ago.
Injury or no injury, dos Anjos appeared to be a world-beater. He demolished Pettis with the kind of one-sided authority rarely seen in UFC title fights. In doing so, he became 2015’s version of T.J. Dillashaw, a massive underdog who captured the bantamweight title by beating Renan Barao last year. Dos Anjos did not get the finish, as Dillashaw did, but he was no less effective.
And now, dos Anjos will face a murderer’s row of title challengers. Pettis will be waiting in the wings; the UFC has invested too much in him for him to be kept away from the title picture for long. Khabib Nurmagomedov will face Donald Cerrone in May to determine the first challenger for dos Anjos. He has faced each of them before. He beat Cerrone and lost to Nurmagomedov.
But given the dramatic and visceral improvements he has shown since both of those fights, well, it’s not a given that he’ll be a one-and-done champion.
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