“Cowboy is a Beast!”- Anthony Pettis

UFC 249 came as a saving grace for the world of sports as the UFC became the first league to resume operations.

Great fixtures stacked the entire card for the night. It was a nail-biting experience throughout. UFC 249 lived up to the hype it had created over the past few weeks.

One of the most exhilarating fixtures was the rematch between Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis. The two met in a Welterweight bout as the last fight of the prelims.

They are both some of the best fighters to have walked the UFC Octagon. With that said, they both gave extremely laudable performances on a fight that lasted the entirety of three rounds.  While Pettis outmatched Cowboy in terms of striking, Cowboy gained the advantage with his two takedowns.

However, “Showtime” emerged the better man on the judge’s scorecards. In a statement after the fight, Pettis said,

“I’m better than I was when I won the [Lightweight] belt. I think each part of your career requires a new version of yourself and I’m finding the version that makes sense.”

Anthony Pettis feels that it’s time for him to get serious about his career

Carrying on, Pettis said, “When I was at 155, I wasn’t as good but I didn’t give a f**k. I still don’t care. Cowboy is a beast and I took him on 21 days notice; I’ll fight anyone. That’s where I think I’ve been finding my mixed results. Me and Duke sat down and talked about it. After this fight, let’s figure out our real career path. Where [we] wanna go and stick to that. Not who’s the next big guy in line, who will give me a title shot, because that’s what we’ve been doing and we’ve seen what that’s gotten me- mixed results.”

Pettis also felt that the presence of a crowd helps him to assess the fight as it goes on. he feels that the crowd’s reactions portray just how good or bad the fight is going for him. He said,

“I need to go back and watch the fight because it’s hard to assess the fight without the crowd. When I land stuff, I hear the crowd and I know it was a good one. This time, there was no crowd. I saw his head pop, but there was nothing behind it, so it’s hard to tell. It could’ve gone either way, in my head that’s what I was thinking. I’m excited that I won and get to go back to the gym a winner and build off this.”

Truly, a great matchup between two buddies. And unsurprisingly, the greats left the fight business inside the Octagon.

What are your views on the bout between “Showtime” and “Cowboy”?

Also read: “Replay that S**t!”- Anthony Pettis on the Eye Poke Against Donald Cerrone