Anthony Pettis thinks B.J. Penn was instrumental in building the lightweight division.
Pettis, a former WEC and UFC lightweight champion, listed his top five greatest lightweights of all time.
His No. 1 pick was former champion Penn, who defended his UFC lightweight title three times with finishes of Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. Penn also is a former UFC welterweight champion
“(I’ve) got to go B.J. Penn,” Pettis said in an interview with Low Kick MMA. “I mean, B.J. Penn is one of the pioneers of the whole thing. Without B.J., none of this would even be possible. Ben Henderson’s in my top five, as well. You’ve got to go with Khabib (Nurmagomedov). He’s definitely on there – a dominant guy, never lost. Dustin Poirier is another guy that’s on my top-five list, and then I would take myself.”
Pettis thinks it’s too early to include current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, but thinks he has all the potential to become an all-time great.
“He still has some work to do,” Pettis said. “He just beat (Alexander) Volkanovski, and Volkanovski is an amazing fighter – but he’s not a lightweight. He doesn’t have any wins against a top-10 lightweight, so I think once he can prove himself – he’s a tremendous fighter, but he still has some work to do.
“That’s the hard thing. Once you get to the top, things change. You’ve got sponsors pulling you, you’ve got events, you’ve got promotions, you’ve got a lot of other options besides training. … Seeing how he can balance that and see when he fights and how dominant he is, that’s when we’ll see how great he can be.”
Pettis, who dethroned Henderson twice, once to become WEC champion, and again to become UFC lightweight champ, meets “Bendo” for a third time in combat sports in the Karate Combat 43 headliner on Dec. 15 at the Expo at World Trade Market in Las Vegas. Their contest will take place at 170 pounds.
