Anthony Pettis Set To Face Alex Morono On December 19

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis is a late addition to the final card of the year. ‘Showtime’ will square off against Alex Morono in a welterweight bout on December 19 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The news comes hot on the heels of main event fighter Leon Edwards falling off the card after contracting COVID-19. His scheduled fight with Khamzat Chimaev will not be pushed back to a later date. Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson has had his fight with welterweight contender Geoff Neal bumped up to the headline spot.

Pettis was last seen in action at UFC 249 May when he picked up a unanimous decision win over Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone to rebound from a submission loss to Diego Ferreira at UFC 246.

Morono is something of a surprise opponent for Pettis. The 30-year-old fighter has gone 4-1 in his last five fights, only losing to Khaos Williams. Morono is coming off a win on November 14 but is currently unranked at welterweight and doesn’t hold any name value ahead of UFC Vegas 17.

In an interview with ESPN, Pettis explained why he had accepted a fight with Morono, he said.

“I was actually trying to get a fight for a while now. My mindset has been so sharp. I’ve gone back to being a student of the game and I feel myself moving over this plateau. I feel like I was plateaued for a while and it was just never-ending, but last month I went to Colombia and got a stem-cell injection and I’ve been working with a sports psychiatrist. I have these tools in my mental game and I’m eager to put them to use. I’m making real progress as a martial artist and it’s felt so good to reinvent myself.”

“I’m not obsessing about getting back to a belt, or getting that next spot,” Pettis added. “This is my first chance to get back-to-back wins in a while. Let’s start back over, take this one step at a time. I feel amazing at 170 pounds. This opportunity opened up and I couldn’t say no to it.”

Do you think Anthony Pettis can make it back-to-back wins against Alex Morono at UFC Vegas 17?