Anthony Pettis Denies Helping Donald Cerrone For Upcoming Title Fight
Donald Cerrone (28-6, 1NC) is scheduled to have the biggest fight of his life against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 17 and is making every attempt to be successful in that fight. So much so that he called in a former opponent, one that has a history with not only Cerrone but Anjos. That fighter is Anthony Pettis, who lost his UFC lightweight title in his last bout with Anjos back at UFC 185 by unanimous decision.
If you recall, Pettis beat Cerrone with a body kick in less than three minutes at UFC on FOX 6 in January 2013. Cerrone stated recently that Pettis was willing to help him in his upcoming fight.
“Anthony told me, he said, ‘Cowboy, if you need me to come down and train for dos Anjos – I hate that motherf-cker,’” Cerrone said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “I said, ‘Pettis, I might just hit you up on that.’”
UFC on FOX 17 takes place from the Amway Center in Orlando on Dec. 19 and will mark the final event of the year for the promotion. The main event will be a lightweight title fight between Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone while the co-main event will be a heavyweight collision between Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem. Four bouts will complete the main card while the prelims are split between airing on UFC Fight Pass and FOX.
However, Pettis stated in a recent Q&A that he never offered Cerrone help.
“No, that’s not true at all,” Pettis said at a recent UFC Q&A session with fans. “He made a comment at a fight saying if I was fighting Khabib (Nurmagomedov) that he was going to – he hates that guy and would help me train for Khabib. I was like, ‘You got RDA next.’ He took what I said and put it out there like I was going to help him train.”
Pettis explained just why he wouldn’t be doing such a thing.
“I’m possibly fighting this dude again, and he was talking big stuff when I fought him before,” Pettis said. “So I’m definitely not helping him out training.”
Anthony Pettis will be fighting Eddie Alvarez at UFC Fight Night 81.
