Falls from grace in MMA are more often hard plummets. After all, the only thing reaching the top really offers is leaving you teetering beside a slippery slope. We see these changes of fortune happen often, and this is what happened to Anthony Pettis.
In December 2014, Pettis was at the top of his game. He’d just defended his lightweight title, defeating Gilbert Melendez in the second round via submission (the only time Melendez has lost in such a fashion), and UFC boss Dana White was proclaiming him the best in the game.
“Honestly, I think Pettis is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, if the kid could stay healthy,” White said in an interview with Jim Rome. “This kid is able to do things to people that other people can’t do. The famous run-off-the-cage kick. He bounces off the cage and hits people with knees.
“I believe that kid is the pound-for-pound best,” White said. “He is an incredible athlete and has this style that’s incredibly hard to defend against.”
Basically, ‘Showtime’ was a star. He’d been put on the Wheaties box, and seemed unbeatable.
Riding atop a five run win streak, any time he stepped foot into the Octagon, there was an air of expectant excitement. Who else threw the sort of ludicrous strikes as he did? This was a man who, not satisfied with the canvas, used the cage itself as a tool to propel limbs into opponents. His whole fighting style could be surmised as sheer audacity.
And then, at the height of his powers, he encountered Rafael Dos Anjos.
Pettis went into that fight as a heavy favourite, only to find himself starched. Losing every round to the Brazilian, Pettis was ragdolled and brutalised from the bout’s opening to its close. No flashy kicks could counter the non-stop forward motion that Dos Anjos offered, and the 155lb champion had the belt ripped from his grasp.
“No excuses,” Pettis said in the cage afterwards. “I’ve got to go back to the gym and train.”
10 months later, and once again Pettis was standing watching another get their hand raised. Losing a split decision to Alvarez, who once again forced Pettis backwards and nullified the game of the former champion.
“Only way to go is up from here and get better,” Pettis posted on Instagram. “I’m healthy and ready to get back on the grind. Staying positive and motivated.”
A quick return to face Edson Barboza was not the answer. Facing someone with similar striking capabilities, Pettis had his leg pulverized into a purple mess, and was left in rare territory; champion one minute, three fight losing streak the next.
Simply put, the once flashy and spectacular Pettis now looks…ordinary. Why?
It’s no secret that the Pettis weakness is wrestling. His debut, a loss to Clay Guida, proved that. Labelled an “obvious hole” by Alvarez in the lead up to their fight, Pettis supposedly spent much of that camp focusing on wrestling, and still found it to be insufficient.
But it can’t just be that a previous hole has been exposed. It wasn’t wrestling that cost him the Barboza fight. Instead there Pettis looked tentative, too nervous to try throwing the outrageous moves of old.
One theory is tactics. It seems almost a simple equation these days. You move forward + Pettis moving back = Limited offense for Pettis. All three of his losses have come to men forcing him back, and he was hit nearly twice as much (206 significant strikes) in those three bouts than in the six leading up to them (116).
Another theory? Injury after injury has left the former champion unable to evolve as his peers have.
Pettis has been in the UFC for five years, and in that time he has had 9 fights. In the same time frame, Dos Anjos and Barboza have both had 13. Donald Cerrone has had 20.
While rivals trained, Pettis found himself sidelined over and over again. A meniscus tear in 2013. A surgery on his PCL a few months later. Elbow surgery last year.
Repeated surgeries have kept Pettis out while the rest of the pack learn. And for the first time in his career, a man who previously attempted the unthinkable, looks out of ideas.
Such sparks the move to Featherweight.
Often a tactic to revitalise stalling careers, Pettis will move down in weight and make his 145lb debut against Charles Oliveira on August 27 in Vancouver, BC.
Such a change doesn’t necessarily mean success.
By dropping down to Featherweight (in a post-IV world no less), Pettis is forced to make a trade. He may become the bigger man, but that likely comes at a cost to speed.
For Pettis, speed has been fundamental. Being quicker to the mark put Cerrone away in under three minutes. It put Joe Lauzon to sleep in one. You’d have to imagine that against lighter and smaller men, that advantage will dwindle.
And yet it’s unfair to count him out. All three of his last fights have Pettis looking repeatedly underwhelming, but all three of them don’t show him quitting.
In a sport with few consistencies, you mustn’t bank on a Pettis streak lasting too long. Be it winning or losing.
