EXCLUSIVE
I cried during first MMA class – now I’m a world champion trying to create a legacy like my brother Anthony Pettis
Sergio Pettis admits he isn’t a natural MMA fighter despite being Bellator’s bantamweight champion.
‘The Phenom’ followed his big brother, former UFC lightweight titleholder Anthony Pettis, into the sport as a teenager but their first training session together ended in tears.
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“My brother was my basketball coach for a little bit. In the eighth grade, he stopped coaching us to start doing MMA,” Pettis told talkSPORT.
“Initially, I got into the sport to get tougher because I was a soft kid growing up. I was very shy.
"I did taekwondo but it was more point sparring. So, this stuff was a whole different feel, actually feeling pain, actually feeling like ‘Dang! This is crazy.’
"I remember my first class, I had to hold pads for my brother, he threw a teep kick at me and I got the wind knocked out of me and started crying. I’m like 13 years old crying and stuff.”
READ MORE ON ANTHONY PETTIS
Ultimately, Pettis fell in love with the sport and decided to pursue a professional MMA career when his time in high school came to an end five years later.
“I just got into the sport to get tougher, eventually I started liking it. I started liking preparing for fights and I saw how good my brother was doing,” he added.
“It got to the point where I was 18 years old, it was either go to college or become a fighter. I had no idea what I wanted to do in college, so I was like ‘I’m going to try to fight for a bit’ and it worked out for the best.”
Despite establishing himself as one of the UFC’s brightest prospects before leaving MMA’s premier promotion and becoming a Bellator champion, Pettis still feels like he’s got something to prove.
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The 29-year-old will put his 135lb title on the line against two-weight world champion Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire at Bellator 297 in Chicago on June 16.
Pettis believes that beating the current featherweight and lightweight king will be the first step in creating his own legacy alongside the one his brother has already made with his career in the UFC and a recent boxing match with Roy Jones Jr.
“Anthony has already had his legacy and paved his way to be one of the greatest lightweights there ever was,” Sergio concluded.
“I still haven’t got to that point yet. I’m on route to becoming one of the best but I’ve still got a lot more to prove. I still haven’t had that performance that I know I can have.
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“I’m chasing legacy. This fight is for legacy. Everything else comes after that. For a bit, I was worried about the money, but the money comes when you're chasing legacy. That’s my goal right now.”
The Milwaukee native stepped out of his siblings’ shadow in 2021 by winning a world title and defending it with a come-from-behind spinning backfist knockout win over ex-champion Kyoji Horiguchi.
If he gets by ‘Pitbull’, Patchy Mix is waiting in the wings for a bantamweight title shot and will provide Pettis with another fight that will add to his rapidly growing reputation in the sport.
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