Anthony (Showtime) Pettis wants to be known for more than “The Kick.”
Ever since he ran up the cage wall and acrobatically connected with a kick to Ben Henderson’s head at the last WEC card in December, the 24-year-old from Milwaukee has become known for the highlight-reel move.
Videos of the kick on YouTube have got more than 1.5 million views. The kick has become synonymous with Pettis.
“All over the place, man, I’m recognized for the guy who did the kick,” he said in an interview. “Not the guy who won the (WEC) belt, just the guy who did the kick.”
Pettis did beat Henderson to become the last man to hold the WEC lightweight title. That Dec. 16 win earned him a shot against the winner of the Jan. 1 fight between UFC champion Frankie (The Answer) Edgar and Gray (The Bully) Maynard in what is supposed to be a title unification bout.
But then fate stepped in.
Edgar and Maynard fought to a draw, with UFC president Dana White initially saying Pettis would still get his title shot before reconsidering and ordering a rematch. Then both Edgar and Maynard were injured in the buildup to UFC 130 last month, further delaying the 155-pound title resolution – and Pettis’s part in it.
Instead, Pettis (11-1) will fight Clay Guida (28-8) in the main event of Saturday’s live finale of Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in Las Vegas.
It’s not the road Pettis had hoped for, but it’s a chance to showcase his skills.
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“In this fight I want to show everybody I’m more than one kick,” Pettis said. “I’m a force to be reckoned with in the lightweight division.
“It’s a highlight of my career but I’ve got more coming,” he said of the kick. “That’s not just it.”
Pettis’ UFC title dreams are on hold, although he needs a win Saturday to keep them alive.
“That kid’s in a bad position,” a sympathetic UFC president Dana White said last week at UFC 130 in Las Vegas. “He’s supposed to be next in line (and) all this craziness happens . . . but this is one of those things that happens in a sport like this.
“And I respect him for stepping up and taking on a tough guy like Guida. “And he’ll probably have to fight again before he gets a shot at one of those guys (Edgar or Maynard). Sucks for him.”
Pettis, while still hoping a win will bring about a title shot, says he’s just focusing on Guida.
“I’ve got a tough fight ahead of me,” he said. “I’ve got to get through this guy to even consider putting myself in the title picture again.”
And he looks for the positives in his new UFC direction.
“I keep winning these fights, I keep knocking them down, I’m just getting more experience and my paycheques are growing.”
In the meantime, his WEC belt remains at home. A replica hangs in his Showtime Sportsbar in Milwaukee.
“I’ve got a spot for the other one,” he said of the UFC belt. “I set it up so I had two spots.’
Guida is a a long-haired bundle of energy who trains out of Greg Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, N.M. where he lives in an RV by the river.
The 29-year-old former carpenter has promised to take Pettis down to the ground and punish him there.
“I know he says he wants to bring the fight to his world, but the thing is like that’s my world too. I’m good on the ground also. If he takes me down on the ground, I’ve got submissions, I have wrestling. I have improved (my) wrestling tremendously so I think I’m going to open up a lot of eyes in this fight.”
Pettis has been working on his wrestling with John Mesenbrink, who coached former Olympic wrestler and current Bellator fighter Ben Askren.
He says he has had plenty of wrestlers to recreate Guida – “We even put a wig on my little brother and had him coming at me.”
Pettis’ training partner Dan (Danny Boy) Downes is also on Saturday’s card. He takes on lightweight Jeremy (Lil’ Heathen) Stephens.
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