Anthony Pettis on potential Jose Aldo matchup: 'Of course I want that fight'

(This story appears in today’s edition of USA TODAY.)

For Anthony Pettis, it was a no-brainer.

The UFC lightweight titleholder was in Hawaii as UFC 169 was wrapping up in Newark, N.J., on Saturday night. But the moment he heard that UFC President Dana White and featherweight champion Jose Aldo mentioned his name in a champion vs. champion superfight conversation at the post-fight news conference, he couldn’t speak fast enough.

“Of course I want that fight,” Pettis told USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie on Sunday. “Why wouldn’t I?”

For starters, they’ve spent their careers competing in two different weight classes. Aldo successfully defended his 145-pound title for the sixth time in a row with a unanimous decision against Ricardo Lamas on Saturday, and Pettis has yet to defend the 155-pound title he took from Benson Henderson in August.

Pettis has been out with a knee injury since that first-round submission victory at UFC 164, and though he hopes to be ready to fight by July, some doctors have called that timetable for a return from knee surgery too optimistic.

Pettis insists he can be ready by then, and that a bout with Aldo makes sense, even if he hasn’t defended his lightweight title yet.

“Who else is there?” Pettis said. “(Former champion) Benson Henderson just beat (Josh) Thomson, who was supposed to be the top contender. Gilbert Melendez already had his title shot. Why not (Aldo)?”

Henderson is less enthusiastic, tweeting early Sunday morning that the “title shot drama” unfolding at the post-fight press conference is “horse manure.”

The move won’t be any more popular with other lightweight contenders such as Melendez or T.J. Grant, both of whom can forget about a timely title fight if Pettis’ next bout is vs. newcomer Aldo.

For the UFC’s featherweights, however, it’s a different story. Aldo would have to vacate his title to move up a division, White said, which would open the door to top 145-pound contenders such as Chad Mendes and Cub Swanson, who have each recently made strong cases for a title shot after losing earlier to Aldo.

“Obviously I wanted to be the one to dethrone Aldo,” Swanson said. “It would have been huge for my career and a feeling of redemption, (but) I do think it makes sense for Aldo to move up because as fighters we always want to challenge ourselves.”

The UFC seems all for the idea, and with good reason. The organization has struggled at times to generate interest in the lighter weights, and it could use a fresh challenge for Aldo, who’s all but cleaned out his own weight class.

As he said Saturday, “If the fight was tonight, I’d fight him. So it’s up to the UFC and Dana.”

White is all for it, calling an Aldo-Pettis matchup a “huge fight.”

“Sounds like we’ve got the fight,” White said after UFC 169. “One more thing I don’t have to do on Monday.”

As for those featherweights?

“I can’t say what the UFC will do with our division,” Swanson said. “I just hope I’m fighting someone for the title next.”

For complete coverage of UFC 169, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.