Anthony Pettis was bounced from the PFL lightweight playoffs this past Friday.
It hasn’t been an easy road for the former UFC champion the past seven or so years. After he won the UFC’s 155-pound title, he defended it once against Gilbert Melendez. But starting with his title loss to Rafael dos Anjos in March 2015, Pettis has gone 7-12.
He left the UFC on a two-fight winning streak in 2020 to sign with the PFL and had high hopes for a $1 million championship in 2021, but lost both his regular season fights. In 2022, he looked like he might be on the path to redemption with a first-round submission of Myles Price.
He had the top playoff seed despite a submission loss to Stevie Ray in June, but had to fight him again in the playoff semifinals and dropped a decision, making him 1-4 overall in the PFL. To make matters worse, Pettis said he broke both his hands in the rematch with Ray.
So the big question is, did the promotion get what it was looking for with Pettis? That’s what we asked our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Mike Bohn, Nolan King and Brian “Goze,” along with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
Check out their reaction in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode below.
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Tuesday on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch the full episode in the video below.
