Anthony Pettis Opens Up About Experience In PFL

Anthony Pettis, a former UFC lightweight champion and one of the most spectacular fighters on the roster, left the UFC and signed with PFL.

Everyone thought that he would be leading the promotion and earn the PFL belt. However, he suffered several losses in a row.

“I didn’t know what to expect last year in the PFL, honestly,” Pettis said.

“You know I was coming over from a format of the UFC, of we would fight, take our time off, heal our injuries and then call somebody out, get the next fight, have a camp, sometimes have a quick short-notice fight that would be like the worst-case scenario. But like the PFL format and the season is probably one of the hardest formats of fighting there is. You know, fighting every eight weeks is the fight.”

Pettis suffered his debut loss against Clay Collard, which was an upset loss. His second bout was a much closer fight, but he still suffered a split decision loss against Raush Manfio.

“Like the first fight I went out there and fought Clay Collard; I had a horrible performance from the way the cage felt it was like I never fought on canvas, for I mean—I haven’t fought on vinyl in a long time where I was used to fighting on canvas,” Pettis admitted.

“I had a great close fight with the champ Raush Manfio. I thought I won that fight, but obviously, he got it. He got his million bucks. I’m not a hater. Congrats to him, but for me, it’s like I know how good I am and where I’m at, and I’ve seen he’s the champion and seen how our fights went, I’m right there.”

He also talked about the pressure he felt as one of the biggest names. He admitted that there was “a lot of pressure” going into a new organization. But now he’s looking forward to the season being a winning one.

He will be fighting with another former UFC fighter, Jeremy Stephens, in the PFL lightweight Grand Prix.