Pettis: I’m, trying to figure out the mental thing, won’t stay down forever

In 2014, Anthony Pettis was voted to be the first UFC champion to appear on the cover of a Wheaties box. By the time the box appeared on the shelves in early 2015, Pettis had lost his belt to Rafael Dos Anjos.

Then Pettis lost to Eddie Alvarez. Then he lost to Edson Barboza. Then he dropped to featherweight, looked cadaverous at weigh-ins, but tapped Charles Oliveira in Round 3. Next he missed weight for an interim title fight vs. Max Holloway, and returned to 155.

Pettis won his lightweight return fight vs. Jim Miller, but most recently lost to Dustin Poirier via TKO (rib injury) in the fight of the night. He’s 31. The fighter appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and discussed how he plans to move forward.

I’ve had some injuries in my fight career, but it was kinda just a dumb error, said Pettis, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. I didn’t clear the body triangle, I tried to twist out and I tore the cartilage in my ribs, so it was like a shock. I felt the pop and then I just didn’t know how bad it was until after the fight when I got x-rays.

It probably was [one of my worst training camps]. That bad. There was a lot of personal stuff that was going on in that camp that, it threw my mental off. Any little errors in your camp can reflect in the fight and that’s what happened, I think. I’ve been fighting for a long time, so I’ve known training camps don’t always go as planned but you try to make it as smooth as possible. That one wasn’t.

I will be back there, it’s just a matter of time. I won’t stay down forever. Obviously, I’m still pushing, I’m still training, I’m still in the gym, I’m still getting better and I’ve just got to show it in my fights now. That’s the big thing.

“It’s something to do with that mental mindset. Honestly, for the Poirier fight, I warmed up at like 3 p.m. before the fight. If I would’ve fought Poirier at 3 p.m., I would’ve smoked him. And then, coming out at midnight when we fought out there, I just was flat. It was like a mental thing again, so that’s what I’m trying to figure out.

The theory that I had going into those last couple fights is that I [needed to stop] chasing, trying to be chasing that gold. I was trying to get that belt immediately. It was, ‘Next fight, who’s the next fight to get me to the belt, who’s the next fight to get me to the belt?’ [But I need to be] just fixing the holes in my games, and it’s just a mental thing, I guess, just getting my mental preparation better. I’m just going in there no matter what’s going on in my camp, whether I feel good or if I don’t feel good, just going out there, turning it on for 15 minutes and having a good performance.

I’m not in this to be a gatekeeper. I’m not in this to have guys make their name off of me. I’ve been the best in the world. I know I can do it, it’s just taking my time and getting back there the right way.

Pettis next fights Michael Chiesa on April 7 at UFC 223 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Coming off a loss [controversially , to Kevin Lee], I’m sure he’s hungry and motivated and he’s coming, said Pettis. It’s just another guy that I have to figure out.