Anthony Pettis has had a long strong road to the UFC lightweight title. "Showtime" was originally given a shot at the belt when he defeated Benson Henderson in December 2010 to win the WEC title. After the WEC merged into the UFC, Pettis was scheduled to take on the winner of the rematch between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar, which took place at the beginning of 2011.But since the fight turned out to be a draw, the two were granted a third fight immediately by UFC president Dana White. Anthony Pettis decided he wasn't going to wait around to fight in the UFC and took on Clay Guida, a fight he would lose by decision.
Oddly enough, the man Pettis defeated to earn the title shot, Benson Henderson, would go on to win three straight impressively in the UFC, get his title shot, win the belt and defend it three times. But Pettis did bounce back with three wins of his own over Jeremy Stephens, Joe Lauzon, and Donald Cerrone. Pettis then campaigned for a title shot against Jose Aldo at 145, and was granted his wish, only to get injured and have to pull out. But now with T.J. Grant suffering a concussion injury in practice, Anthony Pettis is in to take on Ben Henderson at UFC 164 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on August 31st.
This long and unusual road for Anthony Pettis is something that is a very interesting one. He finally gets his title shot, and it's against the man he originally fought to earn it. Henderson is ecstatic about the rematch and can try and put the loss behind him and the memories and reminders about Anthony Pettis' famous "Showtime kick" off the cage which landed on Bendo in that fight in the fifth round, and was the deciding factor in Pettis getting the judges' decision.
Also on the UFC 164 card:
Josh Barnett vs Frank Mir
Clay Guida vs Chad Mendes
Erik Koch vs Dustin Poirier
Ben Rothwell vs Brandon Vera
Gleison Tibau vs Jamie Varner
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