Anthony Pettis News

Chris Taylor - June 16, 2018

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis (20-7 MMA) will return to the octagon at next month’s highly anticipated UFC 226 event against Michael Chiesa. Since losing his lightweight title to Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 185 in March of 2015, Pettis has since gone 2-4 over his past six fights, a slump which includes a pair of fights at featherweight (145-pounds).

Tom Taylor - May 1, 2018

If things had gone according to the original plan, Michael Chiesa would have collided with former UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis at UFC 223. Regrettably, this plan was foiled when Chiesa sustained several facial lacerations when Conor McGregor infamously threw a dolly through the window of the shuttle bus carrying fighters out of the Barclays Center. The good news is that this fight has been rescheduled. Pettis and Chiesa are now set to meet at UFC 226 this July 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2018

This morning, the MMA community was rocked by the terrible news that Max Holloway—in the midst of his cut down to 155 pounds—was deemed unfit to fight at UFC 223, and forced of his planned lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov as a result. “[Khabib Nurmagomedov] my brother, I want to keep going but they are stopping me,” Holloway said in a Friday morning statement on Twitter, assuring that he would have continued to cut weight were it not for the intervention of the New York State Athletic Commission. “Sorry to your team and the fans. You don’t deserve this. This is number one. Shout outs to you and [Anthony Pettis]. Give the fans what they deserve.”

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2018

If ever there was a truly cursed fight card, it’s UFC 223. A week after Tony Ferguson withdrew from his originally scheduled main event battle with Khabib Nurmagomedov, and less than 24 hours after Conor McGregor and his cronies caused the cancellation of a whopping three scheduled fights, featherweight champ Max Holloway has been forced out of his last-minute showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov, having been deemed medically unfit to fight. The good news is that Khabib Nurmagomedov could still fight on the card. According to multiple reports, Anthony Pettis has been called on to step in against the undefeated Dagestani star. Pettis will first need to hit the 155-mark.

Drake Riggs - March 19, 2018

It’s been a rough past couple of years for the former UFC lightweight champion and last WEC lightweight champion, Anthony “Showtime” Pettis. Since starting his UFC career off 5-1 and winning the title, Pettis has gone a disappointing 2-5 which also included a very brief stint at featherweight.

Drake Riggs - March 8, 2018

Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter was the first and only season that has been done live. The season gave us some of today’s best 155-pound fighters as eight are still in the UFC to this day. Most notably, the winner, Michael “Maverick” Chiesa. Chiesa defeated Al Iaquinta in the finals to earn the crown of TUF champion but along the way, he defeated one of the UFC’s current hottest rising contenders, James Vick.

Justin Golightly - March 8, 2018

Michael Chiesa was riding a nice little three-fight win streak until he ran into Kevin Lee, but now he’s back on the journey to restore his standing in the division and get back in that win column. He’ll be fighting former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at the stacked UFC 223 card. Not only is he eager to get back in the cage, but he’s also relieved that Conor McGregor will be stripped to leave room for other fighters like himself to eventually get a title shot. “The biggest thing we need, is we need movement. The 155-pound division has been log-jammed so many times. When Anthony was champion he had some injuries that held him out for a while, you know, so the division got jammed up. And then we had some movement, and then Conor [McGregor] won the title and we’re jammed up again, and you know, you just gotta keep the wheels in motion. It’s just good to see. Conor’s a two-time champion, but he can’t just sit and hold the belt and keep us all waiting. You know, there’s a lot of tough guys jockeying for their position to be number one, and you only have so much time in this sport, so you can’t let one guy rob a bunch of us of our opportunities to fight for the belt.”

Justin Golightly - February 1, 2018

The card is only about half finished but already the UFC’s trip to Brooklyn is looking awesome. UFC 223 is topped with the huge lightweight clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, with Rose Namajunas defending her new strawweight title against the very woman she took it from, the dangerous Joanna Jedrzejczyk. That should be enough to tune in, but underneath that are just more fun scraps. The latest addition is Michael Chiesa and Anthony Pettis. More LWs are headed to Brooklyn! 🌃@MikeMav22 and @ShowtimePettis join April’s #UFC223 card. pic.twitter.com/Rc5FGVInGj

Drake Riggs - January 9, 2018

The last time we saw former WEC and UFC Lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis in action he was covered in blood and looking for submissions off his back against Dustin Poirier at UFC Fight Night 120 on November 11. Pettis lost that fight via TKO from a rib injury he sustained when Poirier transitioned off his back into mount on Pettis. This loss made the former champ 2-5 in his last seven outings, which also meant he has yet to put together a winning streak since he was the UFC champion back in 2014. Pettis appears to be healing up though and has a date targeted according to Ariel Helwani who confirms that Pettis wants to fight on the UFC’s next London card which is on March 17. No potential opponents were named by Helwani… But Nolan King reports that there has been at least some discussion that the UFC is looking at the rising star, Mairbek Taisumov for Pettis’ next opponent.

Justin Golightly - November 15, 2017

Dustin Poirier and Anthony Pettis finally got to scrap at UFC Norfolk and it did not disappoint. Not only did Poirier beat a former champion, but it was a dominant performance not for the faint of heart. There was blood spewing all over the place from a huge cut that opened up on Pettis. By the end of the fight, both men were turned red and the canvas looked like a Jackson Pollock. There was so much blood that Poirier is still hasn’t got it all off of his body. “From this last one [with Pettis] my hair was matted with blood. Yeah, I took a shower. The crazy thing was the shower tile was white on the ground, so as soon as I got in there I could see how much blood was really pouring off of me. I mean my back, my shins, everything was covered. I’m still cleaning blood out of my ears right now, you know. Like, today. For sure, man. With an ear like this? They got some crevices in there that probably still have a few drops.”

Tom Taylor - November 12, 2017

On Saturday night, in the main event of the UFC’s action packed stop in Norfolk, Virginia, lightweight stars Anthony Pettis and Dustin Poirier stepped into the cage together in a fight that was long expected to deliver fireworks. When the cage door locked, the fight delivered. For two and a half rounds, Pettis and Poirier thrilled onlookers, swapping heavy artillery and submission attempts and painting the canvas red with blood. In the end, however, Poirier earned himself a TKO win, slapping a tight body triangle onto his foe, whose midsection seemed to be injured.

Chris Taylor - November 11, 2017

After an insane fight, Anthony Pettis taps out and Dustin Poirier earns the biggest win of his career! #UFCNorfolk https://t.co/ITDZtPavf2 — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) November 12, 2017

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

Even though Dustin Poirier is about to fight Anthony Pettis this weekend, he still wants to know ‘where the f-ck’ Eddie Alvarez is. We all know the story by now, but these scrappers were on their way to Fight of the Night back at UFC 211 and Poirier felt he was on his way to a victory. We were potentially robbed of both by some illegal shots by Eddie Alvarez which made the bout a no contest. The two still have unfinished business, but Poirier driven toward something even bigger: UFC lightweight gold. “You know, in that fight, everybody who watched it saw I whipped Eddie Alvarez, made him look like an amateur. I mean the guy was two steps behind, couldn’t keep up. And then he kneed me in the back of the head with a shot that was illegal. And in the heat of the moment, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I thought it could’ve been an accident. I thought he might’ve been hurt, you know, and he was in fight mode, survival mode, he was just fighting and he kneed me. I told the crowd in Dallas to stop booing him, stood up for the guy, then he came out on social media talking sh-t, saying I wanted out of the fight.”

Justin Golightly - November 7, 2017

We’re finally catching our breath from the insanity of UFC 217, but UFC Norfolk is going to get the heart pumping at maximum levels this Saturday. It’s a sleeper card with a ton of good fights, all topped off with Dustin Poirier fighting Anthony Pettis in the main event. It’s a former champion going to battle with a challenger who inching closer to his shot. Poirier is pumped for the match-up, but would have preferred to finish what he and Eddie Alvarez started. “My first original thought [when I heard I’d be fighting Anthony Pettis] was, ‘Where the f-ck is Eddie Alvarez?’. That’s what my first thought was, but then I said alright, this is a fun, exciting fight. This guy is another former world champion. What can I really be upset about? It’s a main event fight – we’re all eyes on us – against another world champion, and I’ll just show again what kind of caliber fighter I am. Right now [the door is closed for fighting Eddie Alvarez] because I’ve been training 12 weeks for Anthony Pettis, so that’s all I’m focused on right now.”

Tom Taylor - August 15, 2017

During the broadcast of the UFC’s recent trip to Mexico City, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis called for a fight with fellow lightweight contender Dustin Poirier. Shortly thereafter, Poirier confirmed his interest in this fight on Twitter. Poirier later reaffirmed his interest in this fight in an interview with BJPenn.com’s own Chris Taylor. “You know I was hoping for a top-five opponent,” he told Taylor. “But if I can’t get that, then Anthony Pettis is a former champion in both WEC and UFC. The guy is a big name in the sport, so that would be a good fight as well.”

Tom Taylor - August 6, 2017

Last month, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis returned to the division he once ruled after a short stint at featherweight. His opponent in this return was ever-exciting veteran Jim Miller. Pettis looked great in his lightweight return, out-duelling Miller to a sound unanimous decision win. Now, he’s keen to step back into the cage and take another step in the direction of the title. During the broadcast of last night’s UFC Fight Night 114, Pettis revealed that he has an opponent in mind for his second fight back in the lightweight division. That opponent is all-action contender Dustin Poirier.

Chris Taylor - July 8, 2017

UFC 213 Results: Jim Miller vs. Anthony Pettis A lightweight scrap between former division title holder Anthony Pettis and veteran contender Jim Miller took place on tonight’s UFC 213 main card in Las Vegas.

Scott Hernandez - July 8, 2017

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will be making his highly anticipated return to the lightweight division tonight at UFC 213 when he faces UFC veteran Jim Miller in a pivotal fight for the former champ. Ahead of the fight, Anthony Pettis spoke to MMAFighting to explain what he did different for this training camp to return to the win column after going just 1-4 in his past 5 fights.