Tag: Anthony Pettis

Anthony Pettis Confirms Welterweight Run Isn’t One-Off

Anthony Pettis is set to make his welterweight debut. Pettis will face former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in the main event of UFC Nashville. The action goes down from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on March 23rd. Speaking to MMA Junkie recently, “Showtime” confirmed that his jump up to 170 […]

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Anthony Pettis is set to make his welterweight debut.

Pettis will face former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in the main event of UFC Nashville. The action goes down from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on March 23rd. Speaking to MMA Junkie recently, “Showtime” confirmed that his jump up to 170 pounds isn’t a one-off affair:

“It’s definitely not a one-off,” Pettis said. “This is just me trying out that division. I’ve been inactive in my career. This is a point where I want to be active.

“I don’t want to sit around and wait for the right fight at 155. If a 170 opportunity presents itself, I’ll find out right now if that’s what I want to do.”

Thompson hasn’t fought since May of last year when he suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Darren Till in England. Now he’ll face Pettis, who was one-half of an epic co-main event at UFC 229 in October.

Pettis fought Tony Ferguson in a bloody lightweight collision, that ended after the former champ was unable to get off the stool for the third round due to a broken hand. Now, he’ll attempt to skyrocket into the top ranks of welterweight with a possible victory over Thompson.

At this point in his career, Pettis is looking for big fights, as he even name-dropped surging former 145-pound king Jose Aldo as a possibility:

“I want big fights,” Pettis said. “I want (Jose) Aldo. I want everybody that I should have fought a long time ago. I’m not waiting for anything this year. I’m just going out and having fun.

“I’m getting these wins. Last time I had a great time, but I didn’t get the win. This one here, I’m focused on the win. I need this win, and it needs to be impressive. Against a guy like ‘Wonderboy,’ it’s already impressive.”

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UFC Nashville’s Anthony Pettis Says Welterweight Move Isn’t One & Done

Anthony Pettis doesn’t plan on being exclusive to the welterweight division, but he certainly isn’t treating his UFC Nashville main event as a one-off. Pettis will meet Stephen Thompson on March 23 inside the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville,…

Anthony Pettis doesn’t plan on being exclusive to the welterweight division, but he certainly isn’t treating his UFC Nashville main event as a one-off. Pettis will meet Stephen Thompson on March 23 inside the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. This will headline a UFC on ESPN+ event. “Showtime” competed as a welterweight at least once […]

The post UFC Nashville’s Anthony Pettis Says Welterweight Move Isn’t One & Done appeared first on MMA News.

Stephen Thompson Reveals Several Fights He Tried To Land Before Anthony Pettis

Stephen Thompson will face former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at UFC Nashville on March 23rd. This will certainly be an intense striking match-up between two of the sport’s best stand up artists. “Wonderboy” hasn’t f…

Stephen Thompson will face former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at UFC Nashville on March 23rd. This will certainly be an intense striking match-up between two of the sport’s best stand up artists. “Wonderboy” hasn’t fought since May, and was having a bit of a difficult time landing an opponent before signing on to fight […]

The post Stephen Thompson Reveals Several Fights He Tried To Land Before Anthony Pettis appeared first on MMA News.

Stephen Thompson: Anthony Pettis Thinks He Has My Number

One of the most interesting striking match-ups in the UFC has just been made at welterweight. Two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson will take on Anthony Pettis at UFC Nashville. This will be Pettis’ debut at 170 pounds, whic…

One of the most interesting striking match-ups in the UFC has just been made at welterweight. Two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson will take on Anthony Pettis at UFC Nashville. This will be Pettis’ debut at 170 pounds, which takes place from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on March 23rd. “Wonderboy” was having a […]

The post Stephen Thompson: Anthony Pettis Thinks He Has My Number appeared first on MMA News.

Stephen Thompson: Anthony Pettis Thinks He Has My Number

One of the most interesting striking match-ups in the UFC has just been made at welterweight. Two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson will take on Anthony Pettis at UFC Nashville. This will be Pettis’ debut at 170 pounds, whic…

One of the most interesting striking match-ups in the UFC has just been made at welterweight. Two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson will take on Anthony Pettis at UFC Nashville. This will be Pettis’ debut at 170 pounds, which takes place from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on March 23rd. “Wonderboy” was having a […]

The post Stephen Thompson: Anthony Pettis Thinks He Has My Number appeared first on MMA News.

Stephen Thompson Explains Why Anthony Pettis Called Him Out

Stephen Thompson explains why in his mind former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis called him out for a fight. Just last month, Pettis made the callout in a post on his official Instagram account. This comes after he was considering to make the move to welterweight from lightweight. Back in August, it was reported that […]

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Stephen Thompson explains why in his mind former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis called him out for a fight. Just last month, Pettis made the callout in a post on his official Instagram account. This comes after he was considering to make the move to welterweight from lightweight.

Back in August, it was reported that the Las Vegas-based promotion was targeting a fight between Thompson and Robbie Lawler in a welterweight bout on January 18, 2019, that is expected to be the first event under the UFC’s new TV deal with ESPN. However, that fight never got booked. Instead, Lawler is fighting Ben Askren at UFC 235.

The UFC would later confirm that this fight would take place at an upcoming Fight Night show. During a recent interview on The MMA Hour, Thompson gave his theory as to why this fight was booked.

“There’s a lot of guys right now who I’d like to fight but they have fights coming up. So it just wasn’t working out for me in the 170 [matchmaking] the past few months,” Thompson explained on The MMA Hour. “So I was keeping my fingers crossed, and next thing you know, Anthony Pettis is calling me out. So I was like, sure, let’s do it. And I think he thinks he’s got my number. I’ve fought Tyron (Woodley) twice. He’s got the same coach, Duke Roufus, and Roufus thinks he’s got my number, so I’m here to prove him wrong.”

“I’m more of a mover, I think,” Thompson said. “More of an angler. Whenever I fight, whenever you see me fight, I work a lot off of angles, using my kicks a lot. I think I throw more of a variety of kicks than Pettis does. This is not a fight that I’m going to take lightly. He does have great striking, he’s got a knockout reel, so I welcome him with open arms to 170.”

UFC on ESPN + 6 is set to take place on Saturday, March 23, 2019 at the at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

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