Anthony Pettis Says He Sees Himself in Max Holloway’s Style

Anthony Pettis spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of his fight with Max Hollway in the main event of UFC 206. Some highlights are below:

On Holloway’s style: “Max, he does a lot of the stuff that I do. I watch his fights and you can tell he’s been studying my fight style, even before he was set to fight me. A lot of stuff I do in certain situations, he does it. I think it’s easy to game plan for somebody like that. I know what he’s looking for, I know what he’s trying to do and I know what the outcome is if it does happen.”

On the interim featherweight title being on the line: “It wasn’t my decision to make this a title fight. But Merry Christmas to me; thank you. This is a good early Christmas gift to myself. To me this is a guaranteed title shot. You never know because in the UFC they can say, ‘You win your next fight and you get a title shot.’ Then you won’t see one for two years. This right here is a guaranteed shot at one of the goals I want to accomplish, to be a two-division champion. It’s a golden ticket to that next step then getting the featherweight belt. Obviously you can’t erase what the world saw Conor McGregor do to Jose Aldo, but at this point in my career there’s a lot of great matchups that can happen, at 145, 155. I just got to stay focused and get my mind right and feel the way I’m feeling right now.”

On fighting at featherweight as opposed to lightweight: “The cut to 145, it levels the playing field. I’m just as big as these guys, I’m stronger and they’re not going to hold me on the canvas, they’re not going to hold me on the cage because they don’t have the strength to do it. I think the first time was about figuring it out, this time I came in 10 pounds over weight. I’m ready to roll. I have my nutritionist living with me for seven weeks and it made the process a lot easier.”