Despite Saturday night’s UFC 185 drubbing at the hands of Rafael dos Anjos, Anthony Pettis still has some things going his way.
He’s still relatively young (28), a magnetic presence in the UFC landscape and will still look good flipping tires in a Reebok commercial. All things considered, the doomsday clock hasn’t quite reached zero for the recently deposed lightweight champion.
With that said, if such a thing existed, Pettis probably would’ve been first in line to ride a time machine following the Dos Anjos bout.
A week ago, the world was his eight-sided, chain-link oyster. He was the perhaps the odds-on favorite to become the biggest star among the UFC’s new crop of champions. He was being bandied as a potential top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. There were superfights resting just beyond his grasp.
Much of that is gone now, or at least altered beyond all recognition.
Dos Anjos’ job of dismantling Pettis—wonderfully detailed by Fightland’s Jack Slack—was so complete that it’s going to take a fairly comprehensive effort to rebuild him.
Whether or not he can ever reclaim his standing in the stacked 155-pound division may well become the defining challenge of his career.
The lion’s share of UFC champions never regain their titles once they lose them, but the all-time greats have shown that it is possible. Randy Couture did it in two weight classes. Matt Hughes did it. Georges St-Pierre did it. Cain Velasquez did it.
No one has done it at lightweight, however, and if Pettis aims to become that division’s first ever two-time champ, he’s certainly got his work cut out for him.
Despite the vast improvement Pettis showed while capturing the title during a 5-0 run starting in Oct. 2011, Dos Anjos painfully demonstrated that he is still susceptible to being bullied in the cage. Dos Anjos disrupted his attacks with pressure and an aggressive, southpaw striking style.
Though Pettis is electrifying and deadly-accurate with his own punches and kicks, he still lacks the ability to dictate where a fight is contested—and Dos Anjos took him down whenever he needed to do it.
Next up for Dos Anjos could be Khabib Nurmagomedov, so long as Nurmagomedov emerges from his UFC 187 bout against Donald Cerrone as No. 1 contender.
The undefeated Dagestan native beat Dos Anjos as recently as April 2014, and the prospect of a rematch had UFC color commentator Joe Rogan theorizing that Nurmagomedov was likely “licking his chops” before Dos Anjos’ victory over Pettis was even complete.
Just re-watched Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. RDA. Upon further consideration, it's hard to argue KN isn't the most complete grappler in MMA.
— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) March 18, 2015
At 22-0, the only thing that has been able to slow down Nurmagomedov thus far has been his own injury status.
If he does indeed take on Dos Anjos later this year and wins, he would represent an even more difficult obstacle for Pettis to overcome on his road back to the title.
It could be that Nurmagomedov knows that, too, and also knows there is still money to be made for him in a bout against Pettis. He hasn’t given the former champion much sympathy since Dos Anjos took his belt last weekend.
Nurmagomedov didn’t mince words during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani this week (h/t MMA Fighting's Shaun Al-Shatti):
I told you he's no true champion. I told you before, Rafael dos Anjos can beat him, I can beat him, and a lot of fighters can beat him. But all the time, Dana White say he's pound-for-pound king, he's one of the greatest. His coaches say he's Mayweather in MMA. I think it's joke, you understand? Now everybody understands who is who. Rafael dos Anjos, I, and Cowboy (Cerrone), and Michael Johnson—these guys are top-four in lightweight division. Now Anthony Pettis go to the prelims.
While Pettis probably isn’t going back to the prelims, his next destination remains a bit of a mystery.
Prior to his loss to Dos Anjos, there was talk he might accept a superfight against the winner of the UFC 189 featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor. Any hope of that fight was certainly dashed last weekend, but it’s possible Pettis could still match up against the loser of Aldo vs. McGregor.
Whoever walks out of the MGM Grand Garden Arena in July without the UFC 145-pound title will be in a position similar to where Pettis is now.
If either Aldo or McGregor were willing to move up to lightweight—as both have said they are open to doing—a bout against Pettis would certainly still be bigger than any alternative for either man.
Obviously, a great many pieces would have to fall perfectly into place to make that happen. It’s perhaps more possible that Pettis merely goes back to the crowded pack of lightweight contenders. Any members of the current 155-pound top 10 would make serviceable and salable opponents for him, though he’s already fought most of the rest of the top five.
Taking on somebody like Johnson, Myles Jury or Eddie Alvarez would be fine, but wouldn’t be anything close to what we were expecting for Pettis’ future before Dos Anjos took a hammer to it.
In any event, we now have a whole new story to tell about the man we thought might lead the lightweight division into the future. For Pettis to come close to making good on all the potential we thought he had a week ago, he'll eventually have to add his name to that list of two-time UFC champions.
If not, he might will sink into the background, surrounded by the rest of the guys who were supposed to be great and then—suddenly—weren't.
Barring time travel, naturally.
