Sergio Pettis fought against some of the most beloved champions in the history of UFC and Bellator, but his most difficult fight still has to taste gold in the biggest promotion of the sport.
The Bantamweight candidate returns for the first time to the cage against Raufeon Stots under the PFL banner in Chicago on 27 June. It is expected that the winner of this fight will take on the winner of this year's world tournament to determine a real PFL champion at 135LB.
To get that title, Pettis only has to be the third man who beats dots. The other two are the current UFC champion Merab Dvalishvili and the recently signed fragmentary mix, with the Texan bragging of people such as Magomed Magomedov and Juan Archuleta.
The toughest opponent of Sergio Pettis is not Henry Cejudo or Brandon Moreno
During his years in the Vechtspel, Sergio Pettis has included the best of the best in his treasure hunts for flying weight and bantam weight gold. Before he won the belt in Bellator, he had a solid UFC run with a win over the final champion Brandon Moreno and the legendary Joseph Benavidez.
However, the name that stands out on his CV is a loss of decision for Henry Cejudo in a title -eliminator 2017 that ultimately set up 'Triple C' to deduct Demetrious Johnson and become an icon. However, one name rose especially when he spoke with Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat before June 27 in Chicago.
“I had so many heavy fights and on different points in my career I was in a different mentality, different adulthood,” he explained. “I fought Cejudo when I had just turned 24 or 25, so I was still pretty fresh in the game and he exposed my game.
“He is a strong wrestler, as soon as he held my leg, it felt like I was bitten by a shark, there is no escape that the pressure was different. Rob Font was another really heavy fight, he pricked me for my hometown when I moved to 135 pounds, so that was a tough night to swallow.
“When also fragmentary mix, he went outside and suppressed me, which had not happened since I was 20 years old. But man, the most difficult must be Kyoji Horiguchi, he was also a beast-the way in which he tore my legs and exposed me four rounds, that was probably the most frustrated fight.
“I left that fight extremely painfully, for two weeks I couldn't let my shin hit, he kept shooting through it. So I would say [the hardest fight] Was Kyoji. '
Sergio Pettis opens over Raufeon Stots fighting while he turns out to be MMA Comeback
After a year after his second fight with Horiguchi and a short boxing effort, Pettis returns to the PFL Cage to pursue another world title. The first stop on that trip is a short journey from his hometown Milwaukee to Chicago for a confrontation with dots in the making for three years.
“I automatically said 'yes' when PFL offered me a fight on June 27,” he noticed. “I didn't even know who it was until I got the contract and it said that Raufeon Stots, so I am sure, it's what it is”, I had to fight him a few years ago before I tore my ACL.
“So mentally I am willing to fight against Raufeon, so now it is really going to happen. I have been to the gym that very much preparing for this opportunity. They sent the figures and the contract, I actually spoke with Raufeon in advance because he and I are still good friends.
“We gave each other a phone call and he said,” I have you the next one, you have me the next “. He just had his third child and I had my first child, so we are a bit in a situation where we have to take it to take care of our families.”