What happened to Anthony Pettis?

[Levels]

Pettis has gone 2-4 since losing the LW championship to RDA back in March 2015. Clearly not in the prime of his career anymore but he's only 31 years old.

How much has Pettis declined?
Maybe he was just overrated to begin with
Maybe he was ahead of his time and the rest of the division just caught up to him
Maybe USADA
Maybe too many injuries

It's hard to say what the main reason is, it's most likely a combination of reasons.

Pettis is currently +110 against Chiesa, an underdog against Chiesa, his stock has fallen so far. Do you think Pettis will get his hand raised at UFC 223? or is he done?

 

[MadDogMahoney]

Didn't evolve with the sport seems to be the common consensus.

 

[Power!]

he stopped fighting bums

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

I was struggling to come up with his second win since losing the belt <45>

I think RDA took his soul.

 

[danny23]

USADA.

 

[cevo]

He never had good enough wrestling to stay at the top to begin with.

But my guess is that he lost his hunger which lead to all his skills deteriorating.

 

[basedgodfedor]

easy style to figure out

 

[Levels]

Wow no one knows anything

 

[DeformedGravy]

People act like Guida didn't expose his wrestling deficiencies before he even won the belt.

Sometimes fighters improve and close holes in their game, sometimes the promotion gives them favorable stylistic matchups and people forget about the holes for a while.

Plus confidence is a factor, he has lost plenty of times since the RDA fight and had injuries.

I don't think its USADA, he never popped.

 

[Orochimaru 大蛇丸]

I know he was starting businesses, and doing a lot of shit outside of fighting while he was champion... he probably overestimated himself and felt invincible, which led to complacency, and lack of interest in the sport. Hard to get that back once you lose it, who knows, I honestly don't think the sport evolved past him tho, it's not like RDA is fighting that differently now than he used to, he's just better.

 

[BoD 2.0]

He lost the eye of the tiger.

 

[beephin]

A lot of people say USADA, but the truth is he had an ugly fallout with his barber right before the RDA fight which was reported by Ariel the same week of the fight. Hasn’t been the same since.

 

[I Am Legion]

I think people undervalue how hard the mental aspect of this game is. Hard to stay on top, not just physically. But Pettis seems outgunned....

 

[det_regnar_på_vår_kärlek]

Life happened.

 

[RiseAboveHat]

Pettis was never amazing at anything. His downfall was coming sooner rather then later

 

[Kaybee]

He went on that vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO diet.

 

[haplo]

His takedown defense is as good as Ryan Hall's.

 

[Russie]

A bit overrated to begin with. He started seeing stardom and neglected putting in the in work in areas where he needed.

 

[Daniel Rosenke]

USADA was probably part of it.
The weight cut/cardio seems to plague him too. He's one of those 'tweeners' that isn't the right size for 155 or 170 it seems.
Could also be bit punchy from the wars he's been in... and yes, RDA did steal his soul, Shang Tsung style.

 

[g*r*b]

People eventually figured out how to fight him. Like Cain figured out how to fight JDS. Great fighters, but both with Achilles' heels to their game. They're so talented that their otherwise brilliance blinded people, but once someone finally noticed...