Issue 101

May 2013

Speed, power, accuracy; but which striking sensation will overcome when ‘Showtime’ challenges the UFC’s 145lb champ? Andrew Garvey looks at the matchup.

The timing of Dana White’s announcement that former WEC lightweight champion Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis (16-2) was next in line for a title shot against the sport’s best featherweight did little for the credibility of the promotion’s new official rankings.

True, Pettis, after a shaky start to his UFC career, had climbed to number three with back-to-back first round annihilations of Joe Lauzon and Donald Cerrone, but that was at 155lb. The longtime student of Duke Roufus has never fought professionally at 145lb

yet walks straight into a title fight with José Aldo (22-1), who is making the fifth defense of his title inside the Octagon. Contender Ricardo Lamas, with successive wins over Matt Grice, Cub Swanson, Hatsu Hioki and Eric Koch had reason to be displeased when Pettis leapfrogged him for the opportunity after lobbying the UFC president for it. Hopefully Lamas, and plenty of other fighters will take the hint and be more actively vocal about the fights they want next. But for all the complaining about unfairness, Pettis deserves the shot for three reasons.

Firstly, he’s willing to seriously call out one of the sport’s truly elite fighters. Secondly, as the deliverer of the infamous ‘Showtime kick’ off the cage that may have been the single most viewed moment in WEC history and a big win

on a recent Fox TV special, Pettis has more name value than most other likely contenders. And thirdly, unlike the others some believe, he actually has a solid chance of winning.

The 2010 World MMA Awards’ ‘Fighter of the Year,’ Aldo, still just 26 years old, is unbeaten in some seven and a half years. However, the terrifying wrecking machine of the WEC hasn’t quite been as lethal since the UFC merger.

As a UFC fighter and champion, Aldo has gone 4-0 with just one finish inside the distance, his stunning knockout of Chad Mendes in Rio last January. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under the immensely respected Andre Pederneiras at elite Brazilian camp Nova Uniao, Aldo rarely shows his ground skills, preferring to use his size, reach, lightning hand-and-foot speed and chilling power to batter his unfortunate opponents on the feet.

With exceptional takedown defense – he’s avoided 92%, according to the UFC’s statistics – Aldo is usually able to keep the fight wherever he wants it, making him an even more dangerous fighter.

Yet even in his unarguable decision victories over Kenny Florian and Mark Hominick, Aldo was a mild disappointment to some, lacking that spark and that old aura of indestructibility he had in the smaller WEC cage. Illness and problems dragging his large-for-a-featherweight frame down to 145lb were to blame for some of his exhaustion at the end of the Hominick battering.

He’s also had some major injury problems. A potentially career-threatening neck injury forced him onto the sidelines for a while in late 2010 and early 2011, and in 2012 he badly injured his foot when a car crashed into his motorcycle.

In February, in his first fight for almost a year, he was taken to a debatable five-round decision by another former lightweight, Frankie Edgar. Aldo was clearly in charge early, punishing Edgar with those trademark leg kicks. But he seemed to fade in the championship rounds, although most observers felt he’d done enough to win in a superb, close fight.

If stamina is a problem for Aldo, he’ll need to be very careful against Pettis, a man who clinched his WEC title victory with ‘that’ kick to Benson Henderson’s face in the final minute of a fantastic, draining five-round fight.

Pettis, also 26, is a hugely dangerous, switch-hitting taekwondo black belt with fast, flashy and very hurtful striking and exceptional finishing skills, proven by his 13 inside-the-distance wins. The only man to ever TKO Cerrone in over 50 kickboxing and MMA fights, Pettis is more than capable of pulling off the upset and taking the first step towards his goal of simultaneous reigns as UFC featherweight and lightweight champ. Will he beat Aldo? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s going to be a lot of fun finding out.