Leading up to Saturday night’s UFC 181 pay-per-view, UFC President Dana White has crowned a new unofficial pound for pound champion of MMA — Anthony Pettis.
After riding the Anderson Silva bandwagon and then the Renan Barao bandwagon before both men lost, it will be interesting to see if White’s opinion remains if Pettis loses to Gilbert Melendez on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Honestly, I think Pettis is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, if the kid could stay healthy,” said White during an appearance on The Jim Rome Show. “This kid is able to do things to people that other people can’t do. The famous run-off-the-cage kick. He bounces off the cage and hits people with knees.”
“He’s so powerful with his kicks that once he kicks you, he hurts you immediately,” White said. “Human beings can’t take the kicks to the body that this kid throws.”
White concluded, “I believe that kid is the pound-for-pound best. He is an incredible athlete and has this style that’s incredibly hard to defend against.”
With the big UFC 181: Hendricks vs. Lawler 2 and Pettis vs. Melendez PPV coming up soon, make sure to check out MMANews.com leading up to the 12/6 event date.
For coverage of the event, keep up with these pages: UFC 181 NEWS || UFC 181 RESULTS
Talk about this on our official FACEBOOK page, or on our official TWITTER page. You can also talk about it in our popular FORUMS.