Pettis’ lesson to play for the playoffs
When Anthony Pettis was announced for the 2021 season of the Professional Fighters League, he was automatically positioned as the favorite to take the championship and the $1 million at lightweight. But the former UFC champion would not have it easy.
In his debut with the promotion, he faced Clay Collard, a rare case in the world of combat sports. Collard is an MMA fighter who has also maintained a competitive boxing career, where he made 16 fights (9-4-3) and although Pettis said he was aware of that, he wasn’t ready for his boxing and lost by decision on April 23.
Pettis’ reaction was immediate, he got into the ring to train with Jorge Capetillo, the Mexican coach who has gained notoriety in recent years for being in the corner of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Pettis even posted on his social networks that he was getting reacquainted with his Mexican style and hoped to outbox Alexander Martinez, the Paraguayan he was scheduled to face on June 10.
But fate would have another adjustment for him. Pettis had to pull out of that card due to illness and will now face Brazilian Raush Manfio.
“It’s a very different style, he has more active hands than my other opponent, who came from taekwondo. But I made few adjustments, I think my preparation has been perfect because I have been working with my boxing and my basics. In this camp I refocused on enjoying the process and boxing, which is very important at this point in my career,” explained Pettis at the media day for PFL 6 on Friday.
‘Showtime’ was able to showcase some of the assets that brought them to MMA stardom in their PFL debut, connecting kicks to Collard’s head. He had some good moments in the bout, but was outclassed and admits it.
“The last fight, it made me realize it. The level of his hands was above what I expected, I felt a bit clumsy, making bad decisions. I went back to work right away, there are a lot of people to train in Vegas, but somehow I hadn’t found the style that worked for me in MMA,” explained the fighter of Puerto Rican and Mexican origin.
Now he feels confident of qualifying, even though he needs to finish the fight in order to get into the top four in the standings and advance to the semifinals of his category.
“He taught me the Cuban-Mexican style, but keeping my distance for MMA. We always had salsa playing in the gym and in fact Tyson Fury was doing camp at the same time. I’m very grateful that Jorge let me join his team,” he added.
The adjustment of dates gave him the opportunity to be present at the birth of his daughter and also to be able to bring his brother Sergio, current Bellator bantamweight champion, who could not join him in the first fight due to PFL quarantine protocols, to his corner.
The sixth regular season card will be headlined by women’s 155-pound champion Kayla Harrison, who takes on Belgian Cindy Dandois.
Friday’s card: women’s heavyweight and women’s light heavyweight
10 p.m. ET | WATCH
Kayla Harrison vs. Cindy Dandois | Women’s Light Heavyweight
Anthony Pettis vs. Raush Manfio | Men’s Light Heavyweight
Lance Palmer vs. Movlid Khaybulaev | Featherweight
Denis Goltsov vs. Brandon Sayles | heavyweight
6 p.m. ET | WATCH
Bruno Cappelozza vs. Muhammed DeReese | Heavyweight
Larissa Pacheco vs. Olena Kolesnyk | Female Light Heavyweight
Ante Delija vs. Chandler Cole | Heavyweight
Genah Fabian vs. Julija Pajic | Women’s Light Heavyweight
Renan Ferreira vs. Carl Seumanutafa | Heavyweight
Taylor Guardado vs. Laura Sanchez | Women’s Lightweight
Kaitlin Young vs. Mariana Morais | Female Light Heavyweight
Klidson Abreu vs. Jamelle Jones : Heavyweight
