Pettis: I get to chill out and be third on the card

Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis won the WEC lightweight title after landing arguably the greatest kick in MMA history – The Showtime Kick. Then he won the UFC lightweight championship, and became the first MMA fighter to land on the Wheaties box. He won the UFC lightweight championship in 2013, submitting Benson Henderson. Pettis fought just once in 2014, submitting Gil Melendez.

Then in his only fight in 2015, he lost the title to Rafael Dos Anjos. Early this year he lost a split decision to Eddie Alvarez. Saturday night Pettis fights EdsonBarboza on the main card of UFC 197. Three losses in row could be devastating for his career.

But Pettis says the pressure to outdo himself every fight is off, and that he is relieved to be out of the spotlight.

I love it, he said to Adam Hill for the Las Vegas Review Journal. I feel like when I started the sport, I was always an underdog until I started winning belts and then people were finally favoring me. I feel like I can go out there and just fight now. That’s all I have to do. I don’t have to go out there and be ‘Showtime’ and do all this flashy s*** or whatever. I can just go out there and beat this dude up and get my hand raised.

I feel like the pressure is actually a little off me. Most people think I have more pressure because of the two straight losses, but I get to chill out and be the third fight on the card.

I stopped thinking about the title. I feel like it was flogging my mind that last fight. I was trying to line up everything down the road. Even back to the (Dos Anjos) fight, I was trying to line up things beyond that guy. I have to stop doing that. I have to just focus on the guy in front of me.

The hard hitting Barboza too has lost two of his last three fights. Pettis thinks the two strikers will match up in exciting fashion, but that he can take a shot better than does his opponent.

I’ve been hit and taken it pretty well, said Pettis. He gets him and gets Bambi legs pretty quick, so we’ll find out.

Anthony and his younger brother Sergio are fighting on the same card for the third time, and the pair spent three weeks of this camp at Jackson-Wink MMA, sparring with the top talent there. While the experience was invaluable, Sergio, who will fight Chris Kelades, said his older brother already had a new attitude.

When you get to the heights he was at as far as being a champion and on the Wheaties box and all that, I feel like you get content,” said Sergio. “He’s got two losses in a row, and he’s hungry. You can see the flame in his eyes, and I know he’s going to go out and perform.