Anthony Pettis: ”Jag kommer inte gå match på samma kort som min lillebror”

Anthony Pettis förlorade sin lättviktstitel till Rafael dos Anjos för lite mer än två veckor sedan under UFC 185. En match där han vart totaldominerad i fem ronder. Man kan tro att det finns mycket att ta i lärdom från mötet men enligt den forne mästaren så är det en sak som sticker ut mer, nämligen att inte gå match på samma gala som sin lillebror Sergio Pettis.

Sergio Pettis blev besegrad av Ryan Benoit via teknisk knockout på galans underkortet under UFC 185, en match som han dominerade tills han åkte på en vänsterkrock i den andra ronden. Senare samma kväll fick vi se hans äldre bror och den forne lättviktsmästaren Anthony Pettis förlora sin titel till brasilianaren Rafael dos Anjos.

“The biggest thing I think I’m gonna change is me and my little bro fighting on the same card,” sa Pettis till Ariel Helwani under måndagens avsnitt av The MMA Hour. “The first time it went amazing, the second time not so well. He got knocked out, I had to watch that and get up mentally for my fight. Not making excuses or nothing, but them little things could have triggered my performance.”

Pettis fortsätter, “He gets knocked out and then you gotta reset the battery, reset everything and try to get back up for the next fight. “I think it was just a little bit too much for everybody emotionally to go through. Next time if I’m fighting in a big fight like that, it has to be all about me.”

Anthony Pettis fick avsluta sin match med ett brutet okben och behövde sy sju stygn över hans högra öga. Rafael dos Anjos träffade honom med en hård vänster i den första ronden vilket resulterade i att Pettis hade synproblem under matchens gång.

“He caught me with that big left,” sa Pettis. “The first punch he hit me with, I couldn’t see. I had triple vision. It was a great punch. He got me right in the eyeball. There were a lot of things that factored into that performance. I mean, having one eye doesn’t stop the fact that I didn’t stop any of his takedowns. It didn’t stop the fact of me taking the wrong angles.”

Petts känner helt enkelt att det inte var hans kväll.

“I had a really crappy performance. I don’t know what happened. My timing was off. I didn’t have any strength out there. I felt weak. And it was just like something went wrong, so I gotta figure it out and we gotta fix it. I never felt that weak in a fight and it was the wrong night to feel like that.”

Pettis fortsätter, “The whole entire thing was a blur. Even in between rounds, it was a blur. I didn’t take the advice Duke was giving me. Ben was saying some good things, I wasn’t listening to Ben. It was one of them nights.”