It wasn’t that long ago when the MMA community was buzzing about a UFC featherweight title fight between Anthony Pettis and Jose Aldo was announced to be taking place on August 3 at UFC 163 in Brazil. Pettis, who has never competed in that division before, leapfrogged all of the other featherweight contenders vying for a title shot. The thing is, I think that a lot of people were completely okay with it as it made for a very intriguing fight, much more interesting than a fight against Ricardo Lamas or “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung would be. In addition, Anthony Pettis is just a bigger name than any other featherweight contender.
Things have changed though, and with Pettis now having withdrawn from the Aldo fight due to injury, he’s trying to butt in line again. Only this time, it’s for a lightweight title fight, which would be a rematch against UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. Pettis defeated Henderson by unanimous decision back in 2010 for the WEC lightweight title, in what was a back and forth five round fight.
T.J. Grant is currently scheduled to fight Henderson in the main event of UFC 164 on August 31. Did I mention that it takes place in Pettis’ hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin? Basically, Pettis wants to boot T.J. Grant out of the fight and step in. Despite pulling out of the Aldo fight, which takes place about four weeks before, Pettis says that he “can be 100% ready to fight Benson Henderson in Milwaukee.”
Pettis will be flown out to Las Vegas to get a second opinion on his injury and when he can make a return to the octagon. For now, we still have T.J. Grant vs. Benson Henderson. Despite UFC president Dana White being pretty adamant that Pettis won’t be in condition to fight Henderson and that Grant will keep the fight, it’s probably best to take a page out of Dana’s book and “see what happens.”