Pettis: I have to remind everybody who I am
Anthony Pettis: “[MMA] fans have so many fights to look at, so they’re very quick to forget…It’s been a year off for me, so I gotta go out there and remind them again.”
It is said you aren’t a true champion until you have defended your title. So for Anthony Pettis his December fight with Gilbert Melendez is a chance to remind everyone why he is the champion:
I gotta go out there and remind everybody of who I am, Pettis said, making it more than clear that despite being out of the Octagon since August of 2013 due to injury, he doesn’t want to stick around and embrace his time back on active duty for a full 25 minutes. That doesn’t mean he dismisses the former Strikeforce champion – who has never been stopped in 25 pro fights; he just feels that El Nino won’t last long with him on fight night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Gil’s a tough opponent, Pettis said. He’s one of those guys that just goes out there and likes to fight. You saw him in the Diego Sanchez fight throwing bombs, the Ben Henderson fight went five rounds – but that’s the thing for me, I don’t really see him as a big threat. He doesn’t really knock anybody out, he doesn’t submit anybody; he kinda goes out there and keeps the same pace the whole fight, so I’ve got to break that down and make sure he doesn’t go five rounds with me.
