A. Pettis (photo) will make his first title defense against Melendez. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
Next Saturday (6), Anthony Pettis will make his first defense of the UFC lightweight title even though he won the belt more than a year ago. The American, who became champion in August 2013 and was sidelined for a long period due to a knee injury, hopes to make up for lost time by putting together a series of consecutive victories in a short period of time.
See too
Against Gilbert Melendez, in the co-main fight of UFC 181, Pettis hopes to begin a sequence of fights that will propel him to stardom. “That's what's going to happen in 2015, that's my big goal: in December, I'm going to start strong. I'll have another fight in March or April, then in July or August. Then, I will close the year strong in December. If I have a year like this, my name will be up there, for sure”, projected the champion, in an interview with the website of the North American broadcaster “FOX Sports”.
However, even though he hasn't had a single fight in 2014, Pettis believes his name is already strong enough to draw the attention of fans. “I think I have the skills to bring fans to the gym. People want to see me fight. Even though I was out for a year, dealing with this knee injury, my fight is still big. People want to see what will happen to me. My last three fights didn't make it past the first round. I want to come back and show everyone that I'm still the champion and why I have this title”, concluded the fighter.
[vox id=”26649″]
Comments