When visitors first step foot onto the streets of Milwaukee, outsiders seem to have a collective first impression. It’s cold. People are wrapped up warm, with every breath they take lingering in the air as they go about their day as if this is normal weather.

At first you wonder why anyone would want to train or live in such a cold place, but what you quickly learn is once April concludes, all the warm clothing is put away and Milwaukee becomes the place to be, with festivals and parties lasting throughout all summer.

You’d be forgiven for thinking with six months of non-stop celebrations going on there wouldn’t be room for another. But one more worthwhile celebration was anticipated into the diaries of the 590,000-plus people who lived in the city.

If former WEC lightweight champion and local Milwaukeean, Anthony Pettis, won the UFC featherweight title in Brazil against José Aldo, celebrations could have very well reached new heights.

As he started his day walking towards NX Level Athletics, home to his strength and conditioning program, Pettis looked neither scared, worried or nervous, even though he was preparing to face one of the greatest lighter weight fighters to ever grace the sport. If anything, his confidence surrounded him like an aura.

Whether it’s the swagger in his step as he bounced effortlessly along the sidewalk, or the wide toothy grin he shared with everyone after entering the gym, it’s not totally obvious, but here, he explained the reasons why he was already so confident.

He revealed how he and acclaimed head coach Duke Roufus came up with his creative striking, how he planned on eating his way down to 145lb and why the chance to become a legend within the sport is the main thing driving him towards victory.

STRENGTH BUILDS SPEED

Since joining NX Level Athletics for his bout with Shane Roller at WEC 50, Pettis had gone 5-1 inside of the cage – including his dramatic WEC title win against Benson Henderson at WEC 53 and two devastating finishes of Joe Lauzon and Donald Cerrone, both inside the UFC Octagon.

So what was the secret behind the superior S&C Pettis wields?

“I’ve got a coach called Matt Gifford who is a great guy. He’s three months younger than me, but he’s so mature when it comes to training and body physique,” Pettis explained, as he flowed from one stretch to another readying himself for his first workout of the day.

“Even though we’re practically the same age I still call him coach and treat him like my coach. His opinions and decisions when it comes to my training are always top notch. He’s the same age as me so we relate to so many similar things, the conversation is good between us and the training is amazing.”

It became clear very quickly that this wasn't just some hyperbole Pettis fired out for the sake of it. Gifford made sure Pettis was put through his paces during their session, ordering him when he needs to be ordered, pushing him when he needed the extra support and congratulating him when he succeeded.

“We just keep on improving upon things,” Gifford proclaimed as he watched Pettis perform duck walks around the inner perimeter of the facility. “Anthony is a great athlete and he’s one of those kids who is naturally fast with their hand speed and foot speed.

“He has incredible physical range for a fighter. He’s very explosive and can hit you from any angle.

His mobility is great in terms of his body dynamics. Plus, he’s very resilient, and when he gets into camp mode he’s a grinder.”

When asked how his devastating win against Donald Cerrone correlated with the work he did here, Pettis pointed and smiled: “Coach can explain it a lot better than I can,” he stated.

Gifford enthusiastically jumped in: “His body kick over Cerrone (at UFC on Fox 6) was a product of a number of years working on leg strength. The misconception people have is that these guys must be lifting a ton of weight every time they come in here and that’s not the case.

“What we do here is we put athletes through a test to get an idea of where they’re at structurally, so we look at the foundational principles. We take a look at soft tissue quality first and then mobility second.

“Once they’ve opened up, we want to re-engrain movement patterns and once things are re-engrained we can move freely and along with that and become stable in other areas.

Everybody who saw the kick to Cerrone’s liver, one thing they don’t realize is, speed is a product of strength. One of our theories here is that you’ve got to become strong to be fast.”

Another hugely intriguing yet rarely seen part of the former WEC champ’s skill-set is his cardio. Although often unneeded, we’ve seen Pettis go the full five rounds and still look fresh. It’s a physical quality that many attempt to achieve, only to fail as their body can’t handle the strain.

According to Pettis, that’s where a lot of athletes go wrong.

“There are these guys who go and do their strength and conditioning, have a killer workout, and then they get to the gym and can’t spar,” he said. “They can’t work their game plan or the little details; you beat yourself up that way. We pushed it back down to one day a week, where we train hard with the conditioning. It’s enough to make you sick.

“The other days we focus on it as well, we do some form of conditioning every day, but it’s not so strenuous that you can’t finish the workout. I would say it’s scientific: you’ve got to break your body down, then build it back up. You can’t just be breaking your body down constantly and expect results.”

SHOWTIME SUSTENANCE

An hour, a shower and a full-body S&C grind later, and Pettis went back behind the wheel to start the next phase of his day. At this point I couldn't help but notice how ‘regular’ his lean physique appeared. Especially for a man who planned on cutting an extra 10lb to fight at featherweight for the first time. Now, 16 weeks out at least, it was hard to figure out where the weight would be shed from.

Despite whispers within the industry about starvation tactics being the career lightweight’s only real hope of making 155lb, Pettis actually came across as surprisingly nonchalant in regards to the impending cut.

“You know, I just eat pretty much whatever I want. I’ll call my cousin Angelo and tell him that I want to eat and he’ll put it together in a way that isn’t bad for me.

“If I tell him that I want some Mexican food today, he’ll make some kind of taco, but instead of red meat he’ll add fish. Red meat will stay inside of your body a little longer, like if I’m eating some steak or some ground beef then that takes a little longer to cut.” He continued: “A couple weeks out from my fight, I’ll just eat fish. Stuff like tuna, salmon or some kind of easy meat to cut. We do my meals in blocks. One block would be a 4oz piece of meat, whereas another block would be a cup of spinach. What I’m guessing is we’ll have to cut down my blocks closer to the fight.”

But what about when he wasn't in fight mode? Milwaukee is well known for its exquisite cuisine, ranging from all over the globe. Whether it’s an entrée filled with Polish, Greek or Italian delicacies or even localized food such as Milwaukee’s famous fish fry, there were plenty of options for Pettis to choose from.

“I do like to eat, but I try and do that one or two weeks after my fight. I have the freedom to do whatever I want because I have a good diet,” he proclaimed, whilst ordering that fish taco from Angelo. “I say freedom, but the weird thing about it is that when you start to eat clean and start to understand nutrition, you don’t want to eat all of that nasty food (laughs)."

“It tastes amazing, but when you understand what it does to your body you usually decide not to do it. My decisions have become a lot better in terms of my diet. I still eat pizza and I’ll still eat a cheeseburger, I even eat it during camp. However, it’s all prepared by my cousin who is my chef. He cooks a lot of organic, natural food.”

One thing Pettis swore by as part of his diet was H2O. He revealed he drank as much as two gallons a day when he was in training camp. “I am a huge believer in fresh water. I try to make sure I drink around two gallons of water a day,” he said. “It’s hard to do when you’re out of camp, but two gallons of water is my ideal amount. I don’t really do protein shakes anymore and, if I do, it’s only once in awhile.”

IT’S SHOWTIME!

Walking through the doors of Roufusport, Pettis’ spiritual home, it was clear that this was where the magic happened for the 26-year old. Although the family atmosphere inside was obvious for all who entered – with fellow fighters like Erik Koch, Ben Askren and Alan Belcher all warming up and ready to work – there was no time for fun and games, as head coach Duke Roufus closed in.

There was, however, plenty of time for creativity as we’ve seen in the majority of Pettis’ career fights. Whether he’s doing a 360-degree spin into a kick, or he’s jumping off the cage and smashing his foot into the face of current UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, Pettis is always taking something from the gym and bringing it into the Octagon – more often than not, with devastating results.

“I used to do this thing called XMA, which stands for ‘xtreme martial arts.’ You basically have gymnastics and acrobatics and you add martial arts into it,” he said whilst wrapping his hands. “You create a form and you add crazy flips and tricks to this form.

“You then have to present it to somebody and they judge you on your performance. I did it as a kid growing up and that’s where a lot of my kicks come from. It’s like a free way of doing martial arts; you can make up whatever you want. You can do a spinning back-kick mixed with a back flip if you wanted too (laughs).

“I think that’s where a lot of my creativity comes from, but actually putting it together and getting it fight-ready comes from Duke and his kickboxing background. I’ll mention something to him and he’ll somehow tweak it and get it more fight ready. We always exchange ideas, then we put it together and they come out how they come out.”

So how did the famous ‘Showtime’ kick come about?

“We used to do martial art demos back in the day and one of our big things was that I used to jump off a wall and break a board in two. I always had good accuracy with breaking these boards, no matter where they put it I’d be able to smash it.

“I just took that concept and thought, ‘What if I jump off the cage and kick somebody in the face?’

So I started trying it in sparring and Duke noticed it. He thought it was pretty amazing. I think the reason why Duke has spent so much time with me, and put in so much effort was because he realized I have something a little different than everybody else.

“Really, the element of surprise is what makes that move so effective. It’s interesting to see guys try it but they’re missing the steps, the ways to set it up and how to make it effective.”

With all that being said, you have to wonder why Pettis went through all this trouble. Starting a training camp earlier than usual, dropping 10lb to fight one of the best fighters ever in a weight class he had never fought in before, not to mention the fact that a loss may have signalled the end of a long-awaited shot at the lightweight belt.

For some it may seem crazy, but for Pettis the risk was worth the reward.

“José Aldo is considered as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and I want my name on that list. That’s one of the reasons why I called him out. I mean if I’m breaking down his skills he’s a super-solid striker, with great take-down defense, plus he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu. He’s probably one of the best out there.

“However, if you look at my skills, I’m probably one of the most dangerous strikers he’s ever seen in the cage, probably one of the most dangerous strikers anybody has seen in the cage. I feel as if my striking is totally different compared to most fighters. I’m not a traditional kickboxer, I have my own style that people need to get ready for but they don’t know what to expect.

“I need to win the belt, then I need to defend it. Just winning the belt will give the opportunity for people to say that it was a fluke, so when you win the belt you have to defend it. You have to do it more than Anderson Silva and GSP. You have to be on top for a long time.”

He added: “I just turned 26 years old, and I’m committing the next seven to eight years of my life to doing just that.”