Sergio Pettis Looks for Stamp on Legacy vs Patricio Pitbull at Bellator 297
Sergio Pettis defends his Bellator MMA Bantamweight Championship versus Patricio Pitbull at Bellator 297 on June 16th.
Pettis appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts once again to discuss fighting the Bellator MMA GOAT, the overall state of the division after he returns from injury, and so much more. Excerpts from our chat are below.
Sergio Pettis
The initial thoughts when this Patricio Pitbull bout offer came his way
“Oh, I was excited about it, man. Me and my coach were kind of throwing it out there a little bit on social media. Like hey, Patricio, you know, we’d like to fight him. Dropping down a weight class to be a three-time world champ and me in my comeback fight off an ACL injury. Getting thrown back into the deep end against a tough guy like Patricio is an opportunity. A big opportunity for both of us, man. I think an opportunity for me to put my name in a new category and just boost my career up.”
The seemingly ever-growing depth of the 135-pound class as Pettis returns as the lineal bantamweight king
“135 division is stacked. We’ve got a lot of guys out there. Patchy Mix, like you said, Raufeon Stots, got some guys making their way up. Definitely a stacked division and I came back, like you said, during a perfect time. ’35 division gets a lot of eyes looking at ’em. Patchy Mix had a very great last year. He was killing stuff, man. So, coming back and if I win this fight against Patricio (and) get in there against Patchy, it’s gonna be a big fight. So, two big fights back-to-back and that’s what I’m looking for. To fight some of the toughest out there and some of the best out there.”
Bellator 297
The interest level in potentially pursuing champ-champ status as Bellator brings in a flyweight title
“As of right now, I don’t even want to think about cutting an extra ten pounds. I was fighting at flyweight for a bit and the way my body was feeling, I was feeling really fragile. Not competing and performing hot like at 135. So as of right now, that’s not in my head but we’ll see.”
“These next few years, I want to make a stamp for my name and my legacy. Imma start off with this Patricio fight. You know that’s all I care about right now and I don’t care about anything passed that. Not looking at Patchy Mix, I’m not looking at 125 division. All I see is Patricio Pitbull on my radar.”
Assessment of Pitbull’s better stylistic attributes as Pettis readies to clash with someone many see as the most accomplished fighter in company history
“Man, Patricio is a high-level fighter. He’s got a smart IQ when it comes to fighting. He knows where to take the fights. Good everywhere, he’s got submissions, he’s got knockouts. He can go out there and outscore you, outclass you. So, he’s got a full game.”
“It’s gonna be an interesting fight for me to come in here and face him, man. On top of that, like you said, the pedigree he’s at, the level he’s at. 35-5, he’s got forty fights. So, he’s been around for a while. I’ve been watching Patricio for a while too. So, this is a big fight for me. The stylistic matchup for both of us I think is going to be fireworks, to be honest.”
