Following nearly 16 months since capturing the UFC lightweight title, Anthony Pettis (17-2) will make his first title defense at UFC 181 in December. Pettis broke the news today while chatting with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
Pettis is currently filming the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter against the challenger to his title, Gilbert Melendez (22-3). A series of injuries has kept the star a little less active than he would like but there is no doubt he is one of the toughest men in the company.
The Roufusport athlete is 4-1 since making his debut. He holds two wins over Benson Henderson, the most recent being the title fight. He has notched wins over Donald Cerrone, Joe Lauzon and Jeremy Stephens. As he waited for his title shot he accepted a title tilt against featherweight champ Jose Aldo but injury forced him out of that bout but coincidentally positioned himself perfectly for the title fight against Henderson.
The challenger will get his second shot at UFC gold. “El Nino” lost what some call a controversial decision to Benson Henderson back in April. He followed that up with an amazing performance against Diego Sanchez at UFC 166. Contract disputes kept him out of action. He settled on a new deal and landed the TUF coaching job and this title shot.
UFC 181 is set to go down in Las Vegas on December 6th. Also rumored for this event is a possible Ronda Rousey fight against Gina Carano. Stay close to ProMMANow (www.prommanow.com) for more on this event.
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