The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
That’s what they tell you anyway.
It seems like the perfect thing to tell David as he prepares to fight Goliath, or what you say to your undersized kid brother as he heads into a schoolyard scrap with the biggest guy on the block.
Sometimes it’s true, and sometimes it’s not. The Internet would have you believe that David knocks Goliath cold most of the time and then finishes up with a few curb stomps for good measure—all caught on camera, of course. When the storyline doesn’t work out, though, it can be anywhere from painful to painfully frustrating.
Look no further than the biggest promotion in MMA, the UFC, and flyweight Sergio Pettis for proof. Pettis, the little brother of lightweight champion Anthony, was stifled as a bantamweight before electing to drop down at this weekend’s UFC 185.
It could prove to be a career-defining move.
Though he was 3-1 at 135 pounds in the UFC, the success came almost in spite of himself. He was undersized and sometimes conservative at the weight but quick enough to make bigger men work to catch him. He won two performance bonuses in his four bouts but lacked the power to seriously alter the nature of a fight. All of his wins were against fringe talents, while his lone loss was to the one ranked opponent he faced in his time there.
He gave anyone watching hope that he could be an elite talent in the lighter divisions, but most would have said his best work stood to be done were he 10 pounds lighter on weigh-in day.
That contention serves to be proven Saturday night. Pettis will fight at 125 for the first time in his UFC tenure and will face Ryan Benoit, a scrappy customer who recently dropped down a weight class as well. He’ll be looking to put on a show in front of his hometown fans in Dallas, and with a new lease on life, Pettis is a good man to oblige.
With similar slickness and style to his older brother, Pettis is a fun-sized version of one of the nastiest combat athletes on Earth. He’s also following the blueprint of another such athlete, Demetrious Johnson, who also cut his UFC teeth at 135 and got by on speed and technique before looking to become something special as a flyweight.
That pedigree and pathway considered, as well as the mere 21 years Pettis has punched in his life, make his drop something to keep an eye on. He comes from a championship gene pool and is heading to a division where the champion once did what he’s looking to do now. When one ponders that, as well as how Pettis performed as a tiny man amongst tiny giants, the future is worth getting excited about.
Flyweight is a shallow division with paltry talent. Outside of Johnson and a few contenders he’s already beaten (some on multiple occasions), there aren’t many guys who have people’s attention these days. Pettis, with his name and burgeoning talent, could make big gains in the rankings in short order.
The promotion has done a good job of matching Pettis against fair tests as he continues to come into his own as a mixed martial artist, but the 125-pound division lacks much in the way of litmus tests. Guys are either contenders or they aren’t, and the wheat separates from the chaff within a few fights of a guy hitting the scene.
With a win over Benoit, one supported by his time at bantamweight and all the intangibles noted, Pettis will be getting some attention going forward. He can be a force right now at flyweight like he never would have been at bantamweight.
That journey starts this weekend.
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