UFC
UFC Champ Anthony Pettis says it's "hard to judge" how good he's gotten in past several years
Nov 20, 2014 - 1:50:51 PM UFC Champ Anthony Pettis says it's "hard to judge" how good he's gotten in past several years

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Honestly, the last three or four fights have been three minutes long, so it's hard to judge how good I've gotten... Ideally, I want to fight two or three times a year. But I think there's pros and cons to [being out this long]. I've had some great things come out of this year. But at the same time my passion is fighting... Melendez is a very tough guy. He's a champ in his own right. But I feel like my stand-up and my skills match up well with anyone. I'm the champ for a reason."

-UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis talks to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about his layoff and return at UFC 181 in Las Vegas against Gilbert Melendez.

Penick's Analysis: The benefit for Pettis with the last six months of time off due to The Ultimate Fighter is that he's been healthy during that time, so it's been all preparation and improvement for him. It's entirely possible we've only seen a small fraction of what he's capable of, given the brevity of past performances, so if Melendez is ready to give him a bigger challenge than some past opponents, we might see even more from the Champion as well. That's just one of the many things that makes the matchup highly interesting.