MMA Access: Anthony Pettis – Showtime Hop Scotching Divisions
Anthony Pettis – ‘Showtime’ Hop Scotching Divisions
By Christopher Jester
All is right in the world. At least MMA, right? Well, maybe just the UFC, or perhaps the injury bug just fell at the right time. We’re not here to wish for any fighter to get injured, but Anthony Pettis’ knee injury sure does clean out the clutter that was holding up one division and nearly held up another. Originally scheduled to face UFC featherweight Jose Aldo, the injury has placed “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung into his spot. With his return slated for later this year, Pettis has now stated that he wants to fight UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson in his hometown of Milwaukee, ultimately campaigning to overthrow the title shot given to T.J. Grant (to which so far the UFC has said no). Who deserves it more? We’ll get there in a bit but doesn’t this back and forth strike a bit desperate?
But who can blame Anthony Pettis. After defeating Benson Henderson in the last WEC event for the WEC lightweight championship, he was promised a title shot against the Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard winner. That fight ended in a draw, and scheduled for an immediate rematch. Pettis would take a fight against Clay Guida in which he lost and he was thrown down the lightweight ladder unceremoniously. Three fights later, he was knocking on the door of title contention again and Benson Henderson was awaiting as the lightweight champion.
Instead, Pettis decided to take the Frankie Edgar route and drop to featherweight to face Jose Aldo. Left in the rafters were discontented Jung and Ricardo Lamas, both had impressively won their previous fights. Many considered that Pettis was grid-locking the featherweight division. With his current injury, the featherweight division opens back up with a worthy contender getting a shot at its champion. And once again Anthony Pettis plays the waiting game for an opportunity at a championship.
Pettis’ recent campaign to go back up in weight to lightweight, suddenly came as a surprise. But it should have not have come as a shock. He wants a title shot, and the worst part is? He deserves one. It hard to argue against that logic. A promised title shot turned out to be a losing debut and a knee injury knocks him out against the featherweight champion. Pettis has some bad luck to say the least.
But jumping ahead of T.J. Grant? That is not a smart move, nor deserving. Grant has clawed his way through the lightweight division unlike any fighter at the present. In his last fight he steamrolled Gray “The Bully” Maynard and earned a TKO victory in just the first round. When hearing of Pettis’ crusade of leapfrogging a title shot over Grant, UFC President Dana White quickly shot that down and confirmed that Grant would get his opportunity later this year at UFC 164. And it’s the right move by the UFC. In a time when fighters have gotten undeserving title shots, it is time to break that mold and this was the perfect fight to do so.
Although undeserving of jumping over any fighter at this point to get a title shot, Pettis does still deserve a lightweight title shot. But for the sake of argument, only if Benson Henderson wins against T.J. Grant. The last man to defeat Henderson, Pettis has been aligned to meet the lightweight champion again someday and if Benson defeats Grant, the stars would have basically aligned again. It is a fight that most fight fans would want to see, and many are curious to see if Pettis could repeat history by defeating Henderson again.
Fortunately and unfortunately, Anthony Pettis’ injury has straightened some of the issues out that were present in two weight classes. Pettis has an opportunity to have a crack at the featherweight and lightweight title when he returns. Which he chooses is up to him but the rematch against Henderson must look really good right about now after so many setbacks. Regardless of what happens next, the cogs for these two divisions are moving again and will produce some exciting results later this year.
Follow Christopher “sLapDatSuCKa” Jester on Twitter @sLapDatSuCka
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