UFC Fight Night 120 Preview
Anthony Pettis is looking to be the leader of a new era in the UFC that was forced upon him rather than chosen by him.
The new rules that the promotion has adopted over the last few years have made a massive difference for the fighters.
It all came when the UFC did what got them to the height of the sport and they ran right into the arms of regulation.
They announced that the United States Anti-Doping Agency would become the official tester for the UFC.
Now the promotion was going to follow the rules that USADA had as they took on their banned substance list and shook up the roster.
Now fighters that had been using Testosterone Replacement Therapy legally along with other illegal although not tested means of getting bigger and stronger had to stop.
They were going to be caught with the new stricter rules and more things were banned leading to a lot of fighters look very different.
Another major aspect of the USADA change was the move to ban the use of IVs for fighters.
It had been a long practice by a lot of fighters who were cutting a lot of weight to get down to a lower weight class.
Every fighter that could get down to a lower category would because they could take the power and their extra size into a fight against a smaller opponent.
They could cut the weight for weigh-in day and then go on an IV directly after to make sure they remained hydrated for the fight.
It gave them a chance to drop to dangerous weights but rebound back to a normal weight in the 24 hours they had in between weigh-ins and the fight.
It wasn’t the best way to go about things but it was a way that was used regularly with fighters constantly dropping to weights far from natural to them.
Pettis was one of those fighters as the superstar was one of the top prospects in the Featherweight division.
He quickly rose through the rankings as one of the bigger featherweights in the division and took the title in 2013.
After the ban on IVs things got a little more difficult for Pettis and after losing his belt he struggled to get back to the right weight.
The ban on IVs made it far too dangerous for him to cut the weight and his performance began to suffer from that.
Without the IVs Pettis was no longer a featherweight regardless of how much he wanted to be a featherweight.
Eventually, he had to come to the realisation that the featherweight division was not for him and that he should move up to fight in the lightweight division.
It may have taken him a while to come to the decision as he fought twice in the lightweight division only to return to featherweight and lose a title fight.
Now he seems to be fully committed to the 155 lbs division after taking a win against Jim Miller after his featherweight title challenge.
That win seemed to begin a new life for Pettis in a new division as the fighter that was once considered the future of the UFC is beginning his long road back to the top.
The uncertainty around his weight cut is gone as lightweight suits his body better and his commitment to the division should help him out.
He will need to keep winning through and it won’t be easy in his second straight lightweight fight.
He will take on Dustin Poirier for that fight jumping up in competition from Jim Miller and looking to put his stamp on the division.
Poirier will enter the fight looking to shake off a rough last few fights after losing to Michael Johnson, beating Jim Miller and then seeing a no contest against Eddie Alvarez things have been a little confusing for Poirier.
He will look to try to get back on track and take a win against a big name as he tries to keep moving up the rankings to be a top contender.
Poirier has been one of the top lightweights for a while but has never broken through while Pettis is just starting in his pursuit of a belt held by Conor McGregor.
An impressive win by either could put them into the title picture that grows more confusing every day.
For Pettis, it is a chance to show every fighter that is struggling with weight cuts that there is life beyond struggling to get down to a smaller weight.
There is success in moving weight classes that can suit the fighter better and Pettis could be the biggest name to show that although Poirier won’t make it easy.
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