UFC Head Honcho Dana White Praises Anthony Pettis For Impressive Performance At UFC Nashville
UFC Fight Night 148 went down last weekend (Sat., March 23, 2019) from inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. Several fighters left licking their wounds including former title challenger Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson who entered into welterweight contest in a hope to display something spectacular to MMA world. However, things fall apart for ‘Wonderboy’ who ate simply a perfectly-placed superman punch late in round two from the hands of former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis that put Thompson’s light out. It’s the first time ‘Wonderboy’ has ever been knocked out in his lengthy combat career.
‘Wonderboy’ is now riding on two consecutive losses and is 1-3 in his last four bouts since fighting Tyron ‘The Chosen One’ Woodley to a draw in November 2016.
Pettis’s UFC welterweight debut went well that reinvigorates his career that seemed to be going off the rails. Following his win ‘Showtime’ received a lot of congratulatory messages from pro-fighters now company’s head honcho Dana White also heap praise Pettis for achieving a feat that no one ever could do at welterweight division. (h/t MMAFighting)
“Pettis was a +385 underdog, huge underdog. I loved his gameplan from the beginning,” White said Saturday night on the ESPN+ post-fight show. “I’m assuming — I don’t know this — (coach) Duke Roufus studied ‘Wonderboy’ and the way that he jumps with his karate movement, it’s hard to block leg kicks, so he started busting up the legs early, both legs, on the outside, on the inside, to try to slow him down so he could punch with him.
“Think about this,” White continued, “Anthony Pettis, who was 155 and moved up to 170, was able to do what (Tyron) Woodley couldn’t do twice. I mean, that’s pretty impressive. And I’m not ragging on Tyron, which is going to be the thing that comes out of this, but what Pettis did tonight is unbelievable against a bigger [opponent]. Look at the size difference with these two tonight.”
White also discussed what’s next for Anthony Pettis.
“Listen, I like any matchup for him after what he did tonight,” White said. “Very impressive. A very impressive gameplan. He came in, he executed. ‘Wonderboy’ was busting him up in the first round, the second round. He kept his composure, stuck to [what] I’m assuming was the gameplan — I don’t know that — but he looked damn good tonight.”
What do you think should Pettis stay at 170-pound or 155 for his next fights?
