Anthony Pettis is fresh off his come-from-behind victory over former two-time welterweight title contender Stephen Thompson last month at UFC Nashville and his longtime coach is already eyeing another exciting stylistic match-up for his next fight.
The fight against “Wonderboy” was Pettis’ first welterweight bout under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner and the win immediately propelled the former lightweight champion up to eighth according to the official UFC welterweight rankings.
Now, at 32 years of age and already a previous champion of the 155-pound division, Pettis’ head coach Duke Roufus told MMAFighting.com that they’re looking at making interesting fights in the latter parts of Pettis’ career starting with a high profile bout against another former lightweight champion in Conor McGregor:
“The fight honestly that’s trippin’ my trigger, Conor commended Anthony after the fight and then said, ‘Who wants it?’ You know what, we want it. No disrespect, I like Conor a lot, I think he’s funny, he’s charismatic, obviously a great fighter. I think it’s just one of those fights that just like this ‘Wonderboy’ fight, it’s a fun fight. Just the stage of the career that Team Pettis is at, we want to close out the twilight of Anthony’s career over the next many years with ‘legacy brawls,’ if you will. Let’s test some theories. Let’s test Conor’s left hand versus ‘Pettis-kwondo,’ or as I call him, ‘The real life Ong-Bak’.”
Roufus believes the style of both Pettis and McGregor would ensure another exciting fight that fans of the sport want to see.
“When I say we want to fight Conor, we want to fight him because he’s one of the best. That’s why we’re in this,” Roufus said. “We’re not cherry picking. These are things that get us motivated to sacrifice the way we do and the way Anthony had to win this fight. I just think it would be a fun fight. They’re both a lot alike. They’re charismatic, they’re flashy, dapper guys, they’re both great for this sport. I think the time is right and let’s do it July 6 on International Fight weekend.”
“Needless to say, we’re at this neat time in the sport where we gotta do fights for our sport to elevate our sport,” he continued. “And I think that’s what the Wonderboy fight was. … Our main source that drives this sport is the fans and that’s what Anthony Pettis lives for. Not the ego, I talked to him and he said, ‘Coach, I had so much fun in there the other night.’ As a coach and friend that makes me happy. Mike Tyson said it best, ‘A happy fighter is a dangerous fighter.’”