Anthony Pettis won’t let his last loss deter him.
He took on a returning Nate Diaz at UFC 241 in August, a fight that could have got him back into title contention. Prior to the fight, Pettis says he suffered a cut in his hand that had him glued up, and unable to even jab.
He wasn’t about to pull out, though.
“I don’t make excuses,” Pettis told UFC News. “Diaz fought his ass off, great fight. I hit him with some big shots, he took them.”
“I did get a little down after the Diaz fight, like, ‘What the heck’s next,’ and, ‘What the heck is happening,’ and I just went back to having fun. I’m blessed. I’m blessed to come in here and do this job, and it’s not like I get paid more to be on the main event or co-main from these guys, so for me, it’s like, whoever’s next is next.”
At next week’s UFC 246, he now takes on the streaking Carlos Diego Ferreira (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC), who’s won his last five in a row and has a lot more to gain in this matchup, taking on a former champ and big name like Pettis (22-9 MMA, 14-9 UFC).
But Pettis has never been one to pick and choose opponents. He was just eager to get back in the cage.
“It’s exciting for me because it’s time to fight,” Pettis said. “Like honestly, I was waiting for an opponent. I was ready right after the Diaz fight. I told the UFC I wanted to go, they kept giving me some like hinters, who could have been, they fell through and he was ready, that’s what it is.”
Pettis feels he did his body a massive disservice by cutting down to 145 pounds in 2016, which made his return to lightweight feel more difficult than it should have. Pettis competed twice at featherweight, where he submitted Charles Oliveira and fell short against Max Holloway, a fight where he was ineligible to win the interim featherweight title due to missing weight by three pounds.
He would then move back up to lightweight, going 2-2 and picking up wins over Jim Miller and Michael Chiesa. But the former WEC and UFC lightweight champ was not in full form, which prompted a move up to 170.
Pettis competed twice at welterweight, against Stephen Thompson and Diaz, which helped him recover his body, in preparation for his move back down again to 155 pounds.
“I get the ‘Wonderboy’ fight, I call him out, we move up to 170, my body feels amazing, no weight cut,” Pettis said. “So a whole year of no weight cut in 2019 and this is going to be my first time going back to ’55, but my body from going down to 145 never recovered. I tried to cut down to ’55 but I was hurting because of that ’45-pound weight cut. I just gave my body some rest. I look and feel the best I’ve ever looked, honestly, and I know everybody says that every time, but this is one of those times where I feel it. I needed rest from cutting weight.”
Anthony Pettis got 'a little down' after Nate Diaz loss, but rejuvenated ahead of lightweight return
