Anthony Pettis talks mentoring his little brother Sergio

Sergio Pettis had a good, but not great debut at UFC 167 against  Will Campuzano, but most importantly he got the win as ugly as it was. For older brother and UFC lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, being in Sergio’s corner was probably more stressful than fighting his own battles. Pettis sat down with Bloody Elbow and talked about being the older brother to a fighter who can kick a lot of ass:

“I hate watching him. Even from his Taekwondo days, my brotherly instincts is to protect my younger brother. Now he’s out there doing his own thing. We got the win, but I think we put pressure on ourselves to perform and finish fights, so he was a little disappointed he didn’t get the finish. But we got the win, so we’re very happy about it.”

“I think he can fight better. I spar with him all the time and he probably gives me the hardest rounds out of everybody. So I know he has a lot more potential. Now it has to match the nerves, that’s the hardest part about it, the mental game is what makes champions. There’s guys out there that are so good but they just can’t mentally put it together, so that’s what we work on. The thing is, I’d rather let him have 15 minutes of experience over a two-minute knockout. So it was very good what happened today.”

“I told him it’s not about our dad, it’s not about Anthony Pettis today. It’s about Sergio Pettis. You start your journey, you start your destiny. And take advantage of it. Fall in love with the atmosphere, the feeling of walking out to the octagon. And don’t make it a job, make this fun.”