ARLINGTON, Texas – Anthony Pettis admits he took his PFL debut season lightly, but he won’t be making that mistake again.
The former UFC and WEC champion said he wasn’t as dedicated as he should’ve been in his first run under the PFL banner in 2021 – a stretch that left him 0-2 in the promotion and out of the playoffs to compete for the PFL title and the $1 million prize. Pettis lost to Clay Collard in his first outing and then to eventual 2021 PFL lightweight champion Raush Manfio.
“Showtime” returns for his second go at PFL’s lightweight season this Friday, as he takes on Myles Price on the main card of 2022 PFL 3.
“Last season I admit it to myself, I had to be my biggest critic, I didn’t take it as seriously as I should’ve,” Pettis told reporters at the 2022 PFL 3 media day on Wednesday. “It was a two-month training camp for my first fight and I usually do my training camps eight to 10 weeks and that’s not this format. You can’t do it this way.
“The bulk load of the training has to be done before the first fight because if you get hurt the first fight or anything happens, you can lose two or three weeks of training, and boom, you’re right back in another fight. I learned a lot that last season, underestimating the level of competition. Clay Collard and Raush made me a better fighter for sure. They made me go back and look at the holes I need to fix. I hired more coaches and made sure everything was about me this time.”
Pettis is now 35 and he’s 3-4 since 2019. Some critics and fighters have said that the former champion simply doesn’t have it anymore. Pettis refutes those claims and vows to show improvement on Friday night.
“I’m definitely not the same as a few years ago, I definitely progressed and I matured as a person and as a fighter,” Pettis said. “If he’s (Price) basing that off my last season, I hope so because this season I put the work in, and no corners were cut. So we’ll see on Friday.”