… In response to some statements Gray Maynard said about not being too impressed by Anthony Pettis and that save for Ben Henderson, he’s only fought scrubs, Pettis told HeavyMMA: “I feel bad for the.
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In response to some statements Gray Maynard said about not being too impressed by Anthony Pettis and that save for Ben Henderson, he’s only fought scrubs, Pettis told HeavyMMA:
“I feel bad for the guys in the WEC. He’s downgrading all of the WEC fighters, which are doing very well in the WEC,” said Pettis. “If I’m fighting scrubs, his peers are getting beat by the scrubs I’ve been fighting. I feel that he might a little jealous of my level of success so fast. I’m probably the most famous UFC fighter that hasn’t fought in the UFC yet.”
Maynard is not known for trash-talking but it looks like the lines have been drawn for a good ol’ rivalry between the two Lightweights. Pettis faces Clay Guida this June 4th at the TUF 13 Finale.
Since both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard sustained injuries, ultimately forcing them off of UFC 130, UFC lightweight Anthony “Showtime” Pettis finds himself in limbo.While promised a title shot at the winner of their second encounter, Pettis was focus…
Since both Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard sustained injuries, ultimately forcing them off of UFC 130, UFC lightweight Anthony “Showtime” Pettis finds himself in limbo.
While promised a title shot at the winner of their second encounter, Pettis was focused, and in fact sat cage-side to get a better perspective on Edgar and Maynard at UFC 125. Unfortunately for him, the result ended in a draw.
And now that another setback has hit the former WEC lightweight champion and he said it not only messes up his plans but the lightweight division as well.
“It kinda puts the whole lightweight (division) on a stand. I was in line for a title shot after Clay Guida, I mean I’m definitely focused on Guida, but the whole lightweight division is just kinda stuck right now.”
And for the next little while, the division will have to remain patient as challengers, like Pettis, will have to watch Maynard and Edgar battle for a third time at some point later this year.
And although a lightweight title will have to take a little longer for Pettis to earn, he hasn’t ruled out another bout after Guida in order to prepare himself for either competitor.
“I haven’t looked past Clay yet. I guess after Clay we’ll figure out what’s gonna happen, but I mean, potentially that’s definitely possibility,” he said.
And after Maynard recently expressed his disinterest in Pettis, a bout between the two lightweights could happen some time in the future. Maynard said in a recent interview that he wasn’t impressed with Pettis’ style or the competitors he fought in the WEC, in response Pettis said Maynard is just envious towards him.
“I feel that he might be a little jealous of my level of success so fast, I am probably the most popular UFC fighter that hasn’t fought in the UFC yet,” Pettis said.
Pettis will compete against Clay Guida at The Ultimate Finale 13 on June 4, live from from Las Vegas Nevada.
More information continues to swirl surrounding the now removed main event for UFC 130 between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Heavy MMA’s Jeremy Botter is reporting that former WEC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis was …
Heavy MMA’s Jeremy Botter is reporting that former WEC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis was set to replace Frankie Edgar and fight Gray Maynard in the main event later this month.
The organization contacted him just a few days ago and asked him if he would like to headline the event.
“They were going to have me fight Maynard on that card,” Pettis revealed. “I said yes to that deal right away.”
But today, we now hear that Maynard himself suffered an undisclosed knee injury, which will knock him out of the event as well.
“I guess it turns out that it’s not going to happen. I’m back to fighting [Clay] Guida,” Pettis conceded. “It sucks that he got injured, because it kinda puts the whole lightweight division back on standstill.”
The news is unfortunate and really puts a damper on what was otherwise set to be another outstanding UFC pay-per-view event. With Edgar vs. Maynard now off the card, the UFC has promoted Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s fight against Matt Hamill as the new main event.
Meanwhile, “Showtime” will return to training as he prepares for the fight he was originally scheduled for, against Clay Guida on June 4.
“For three or four days I thought I was going to fight on May 28 and now it’s just killing me, so I’m going to take it out on Clay Guida.”
No guarantee has been made, but it is expected that the winner of Pettis vs. Guida will be the next man in line for a shot at the UFC lightweight championship.
UFC.com has confirmed that UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and #1 contender Gray Maynard have both suffered injuries in their training camps, and will not be able to face each other in their scheduled main event trilogy fight at UFC 130 (May 28th, Las Vegas). According to MMAFighting’s sources, Edgar picked up two broken ribs, while Maynard suffered a knee injury — especially unfortunate, considering that the UFC is planning to cover these sorts of injuries starting next month.
UFC.com has confirmed that UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and #1 contender Gray Maynard have both suffered injuries in their training camps, and will not be able to face each other in their scheduled main event trilogy fight at UFC 130 (May 28th, Las Vegas). According to MMAFighting’s sources, Edgar picked up two broken ribs, while Maynard suffered a knee injury — especially unfortunate, considering that the UFC is planning to cover these sorts of injuries starting next month.
As the story goes, the UFC contacted Anthony Pettis last week asking if he wanted to face Gray Maynard in the main event of UFC 130, and Pettis jumped at the opportunity.
“They were going to have me fight Maynard on that card. I said yes to that deal right away. I guess it turns out that it’s not going to happen. I’m back to fighting Guida,” Pettis told HeavyMMA.com. “It sucks that he got injured, because it kinda puts the whole lightweight division back on standstill…For three or four days I thought I was going to fight on May 28 and now it’s just killing me, so I’m going to take it out on Clay Guida.”
Pettis and Guida will square off at the TUF 13 Finale on June 4th.
Filed under: UFC, NewsLineal champions have always interested me for one reason or another, and with talk intensifying of Strikeforce champions facing UFC champions in the near future, I thought it would be interesting to see where the WEC and PRIDE ti…
Lineal champions have always interested me for one reason or another, and with talk intensifying of Strikeforce champions facing UFC champions in the near future, I thought it would be interesting to see where the WEC and PRIDE titles have ended up, considering those are the two biggest organizations Zuffa purchased over the years. No disrespect to the EliteXC or the IFLs of the world, but that would just get too confusing.
So check out the state of the WEC and PRIDE titles below. Dare I say more titles than you think have been unified.
“Danny Boy” Downes is a young, hungry up-and-coming fighting out of the Roufusport camp in Wisconsin. The 25-year-old fighter was born in Chicago and moved to Wisconsin after college to train and pursue a career as a mixed martial arti…
“Danny Boy” Downes is a young, hungry up-and-coming fighting out of the Roufusport camp in Wisconsin.
The 25-year-old fighter was born in Chicago and moved to Wisconsin after college to train and pursue a career as a mixed martial artist. Downes fought twice in the WEC before that company was absorbed in the UFC last winter.
He headlines the North American Fighting Championship’s Mayhem event in Milwaukee on Friday May 6 while waiting to get a shot at fighting in the big show.
Q: Where did you get the Danny Boy nickname?
A: At the gym, I was always the skinny Irish kid. That’s where that came from. I’m not a natural athlete by any means, so I’ve gotten to this point with hard work and toughness, and I’m scrappy kinda like Mickey Ward almost. So that’s how the Danny Boy thing came about. I’m a hard-nosed scrappy type.
Q: You fight at lightweight, and I noticed you are 6-feet tall. Is that a natural weight for you or do you cut to get down to 155?
A: I have to cut. I just have a thinner frame. So I think lightweight is the best weight for me to train at. As I get older, I’m only 25 now, I may move to welterweight. I think right now lightweight is the best for me especially because I usually have a height advantage. I don’t think you will ever see me going to featherweight or below. I know that guys like George Roop do it but I already have to cut to make 155 so that is not for me.
Q: I see you train at Duke Roufus’ gym. Who else besides Pat Barry trains there?
A: It’s me, Pat Barry, Anthony Pettis, Eric Cope. Alan Belcher comes in from time to time, and we also just got Ben Askren. We got a bunch of up-and-coming guys that people haven’t heard of. It’s really grown. There was a time for a while a few years ago when it was just me a couple other guys fighting and goin’ so it was kinda hard. It’s different now, and it’s fun to have guys like Anthony and Eric on that high level which makes everyone better.
Q: I was reading that Pat was pretty down after his last fight because he couldn’t put Beltran away. Has he gotten past that?
A: It’s what they say with baseball hitters how they have to have a short memory. It’s the same way with fighters. Everyone wants to finish fights but let it bother you. He can’t worry about Joey Beltran when he has Cheick Kongo coming up in June. He’s already forgotten about it. You gotta have that short memory. You can’t let setbacks drag you down. You just gotta go on to the next one.
Q: Your record is 7-1. Was that loss early in your career or was that recently?
A: It was at WEC 49 against Chris Horodecki. I got a call on that Tuesday from my manager and he asked me where what my weight was at. And I was thinking I probably have a fight coming up on short notice. I figured it was local Wisconsin fight or something and he asked me if I was to fight Chris Horodecki in Edmonton on the WEC card. The only problem was I was kinda out of shape. I’d been drinking and a few things like that and had let myself go a bit. I was like 178 on Tuesday and made 156 on Saturday. I fought Chris Horodecki in front of however many thousand people on Versus. I didn’t perform that well but it got my foot in the door and then I got that win against Zhang in my next fight last December at WEC 53. Now I got the UFC contract and we’ll see what happens next.
Q: So you are headlining the NAFC Mayhem card correct?
A: Yes.
Q: When I was looking it up it said to be announced. Do you know who you are fighting yet?
A: Yea. I fighting a guy named Tory Bogguess. I don’t really know that much about him. You can’t get too bogged down with the little details. I don’t have any recent film on the guy but you can’t worry about that you just got to go out there and perform regardless that is my job. Even in my last fight against Zhang at WEC 53 I watched a lot of tape, but fight went the exact opposite of my gameplan. That’s why in MMA you’ve got to train everything. You try to pigeon hole yourself into any one thing.
Q: Are you more comfortable standing or do you train everything equally?
A: When I started, I was a strike first and then we’ll see what happens on the ground. But, now I’ve changed. GSP is a perfect example of what the modern MMA fighter needs to be. He is great at everything. By being good it opens up a lot of other things. By having good wrestling or jiu jitsu, it opens up my striking and makes it better. The days of the one dimensional MMA fighter is over. Everybody is getting good at everything.
Q: Do you ever travel to a different gym or try out any other schools? I know that guys do that a lot these days.
A: It’s been really nice with the success of our gym. Guys come in and we get new people a lot. I haven’t had to leave. These days they want to train at our gym so it’s like they come to me. The gym has really exploded and we have some new instructors so it’s been really good. You can’t get stale or do the same thing. One you get bored and two you don’t get better. You gotta keep it fresh and keep getting better.
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Lineal champions have always interested me for one reason or another, and with talk intensifying of Strikeforce champions facing UFC champions in the near future, I thought it would be interesting to see where the WEC and PRIDE titles have ended up, considering those are the two biggest organizations Zuffa purchased over the years. No disrespect to the EliteXC or the IFLs of the world, but that would just get too confusing.