UFC 246 is expected to be a huge pay-per-view due to the return of Conor McGregor. There are other fights on the card flying under the radar due to the attention garnered by McGregor. One of those fights is the main card opener, a lightweight bout between Anthony Pettis and Diego Ferreira. The former is making his return to lightweight, while the latter looks to improve upon his five-fight win streak.
Anthony Pettis vs. Diego Ferreira
Anthony Pettis enters this fight as a +200 underdog, with Ferreira coming back as a -260 favorite. If those odds interest you, head on over to bet-or.com to place your wager and add some money to your bank account. Pettis has exchanged wins and losses over his last eight fights and now looks to avoid losing two straight for the first time since 2016. According to the oddsmakers, Pettis is fighting an uphill battle in this one.
As has always been the case, Anthony Pettis doesn’t handle pressure very well. That will be a problem in this one, as Ferreira has developed into a solid pressure fighter. If Pettis can use his footwork to keep himself off the cage, the odds of him winning this fight increase drastically. That’s a big if though, as it’s not really a skill we have seen from Pettis to this point.
One thing this fight could produce is some slick grappling exchanges. If Anthony Pettis can keep himself from getting backed to the cage, Ferreira might look to mix in some takedowns. Despite being an underrated grappler with slick submissions, Pettis probably won’t have enough if he ends up on his back. Ferreira has a very good top game and Pettis hasn’t exactly been good off of his back through his career.
It’s not looking good for the former lightweight champion heading into this one, but there’s always a chance Anthony Pettis pulls out something crazy and scores the upset victory. He likely will never return to his Showtime-kick, Wheaties box ways. While he still has the heart he had in previous years, Showtime’s body has been failing him in recent years. He has been battling injuries and his skills are starting to diminish too. Despite only being 32 years old, Pettis is much older in “fighting years.” He has been at it for a long time, and it would be nice to see him turn back the clock for one more epic performance.
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