With the TJ Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz main event getting the majority of the attention heading into Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 81 event fans may have forgotten that former UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis will be fighting for the first time since losing his title to Rafael dos Anjos in March of last year.
Pettis, who Dana White was already trying to promote as the new number one pound-for-pound fighter in the sport and next top draw for the UFC, lost a one-sided decision to the reigning champion, Dos Anjos, and after several quiet months, “Showtime” will attempt to regain the momentum he had built when he meets former Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez in the co-main event of this weekend’s event in Boston.
A confident Pettis told MMA journalist Ariel Helwani that he doesn’t feel like waiting for title shots anymore, explaining why he likely won’t be waiting for a title shot if he defeats Alvarez on Sunday. According to Pettis, his new contract pays enough to justify the grueling pre-fight training camps.
“I don’t feel like these guys are on my level when I’m 100 percent,” Pettis told Helwani this week in a new video interview for MMAFighting.com. “When I’m 100 percent, I don’t think anybody in the world can beat me. Yes, I was told [that I’d get a title shot], but I don’t know if I’m going to wait anymore. I feel like I have been waiting for belts. I have a new contract with the UFC. I’m getting paid what I want to get paid and I feel like now is the time to get out there and just keep fighting.”
Headlined by the Dillashaw-Cruz title fight and featuring the Pettis-Alvarez co-main event, UFC Fight Night 81 takes place on Sunday, January 17, 2016 from the TD Garden in Boston, Mass., and airs live and free on Spike TV.
