He has had quite a few really amazing fights, even in defeated. His fights with Tony, Max and Poirier were all wars.
His subs over Oliveira, Melendez, Bendo, Chiesa, those dudes are no joke on the ground.
His left roundhouse kick is beautiful, the liver kick to Cowboy and the head kick to poor Joe Lauzon were beautiful. I studied TKD as a kid and really appreciate his ability to use both stances effectively- and when he is southpaw you KNOW he is looking for the left kick, but he still lands it.
He went thru stages in his career, peaks and valleys, but you have to give him credit, he kept reinventing himself, even when (imo) he was getting bad advise and his coaches were trying to turn him into a wrestler, but thankfully he wised up and returned to his strengths.
Not many guys can stick around and find success through multiple generations of MMA the way Pettis has. He was 23 when he won the WEC belt, a baby.