With wins over Ben Henderson, Gilbert Melendez, Donald Cerrone and many others, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis has more than one feather in his cap and, at times, was considered by many as one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world.
However, that’s still not enough for interim-featherweight titleholder Conor McGregor, who now fired back after continued remarks by Pettis that he has never really faced any stiff competition in the UFC.
“Pettis can say I never fought anybody,” McGregor said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “But he’s never fought anyone. Who’s he fought, really? He’s fought nobody, as well. His numbers are really, really low. He lost his last fight. That’s a crazy, crazy statement from him in my opinion.”
Pettis was deemed nearly untouchable since he started his five-fight winning streak the UFC that led to being crowned with the 155-pound championship. Then Rafael dos Anjos came and ended all the glory, when he dethroned Pettis with shocking dominance in March. Now, the 28-year old is set to work his way back up and will face former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez at a UFC Fight Night in January.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s back on the Fight Pass events,” McGregor continued his rant. “He’s lower now.”
McGregor has the biggest fight of his life coming up in December at UFC 194, when he will face featherweight champion Jose Aldo. He has stated many times that he would love to go up to lightweight after getting the job done with Aldo, and Pettis would certainly be an interesting matchup.
“I like his style of fighting and I think he would be a good fight down the line,” McGregor said. “But, he needs to check his mind frame and he needs to look at the numbers and see who he really is at the top of the game, and make his climb back.”