Exclusive Q&A: Sergio Pettis wants the PFL bantamweight belt

Former UFC fighter and Bellator bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis is set to make his PFL debut on June 27. The younger brother of Anthony Pettis intends to take the organisation's belt to continue the family tradition.

Aged 31, Pettis is coming off back-to-back losses to Patchy Mix and Kyoji Horiguchi. After a boxing match against Sabari Jaishankar earlier this year, Pettis is looking to bounce back for in his MMA return against Raufeon Stots. DAZN News spoke to the fighter.

DAZN News: UFC, Bellator, and now PFL, how do you feel after signing?

Sergio Pettis: I feel good. I had a year... It was a long layoff. It was a long year for me. I turned 31 years old, and I didn't think I would be competing one time as a 31-year-old. But, gratefully, I got a fight here June 27th, and I'm excited. I've been moving around. I went from UFC, Bellator, got to compete at Rizin, now the PFL. So I've pretty much knocked out all the main organizations. It's pretty awesome.

DN: What do you think of your opponent? He has only two losses against Patchy Mix that you know, and Merab Dvalishvili.

SP: Raufeon is a beast. I've been training with Raufeon for six years of my career. We both got each other really good, and I know where he's good at, and he knows where I'm good at. So this fight is going to be an interesting style. Definitely a little weird fighting your friend, because he is my friend. We still talk. He's a good teammate of mine. He's a great father, a great husband, somebody I look up to. So it's going to be interesting. But at the end of the day, business is business. He just had his third kid, and I'm having my first kid. So this one's more for our families. So yeah, it's going to be interesting.

DN: Any prediction?

SP: I predict a war. I think we're going to go out there, we're going to feel each other out a little bit, but I think he's going to come out confident. He's only got two losses, so I think he's got a chip on his shoulder. He wants to show who the better of us two is. It's been a long time coming. We were supposed to fight in 2022, so about three years later, we get to go at it.

DN: Who do you want after this fight?

SP: I would like to fight the champion of the division at the time. I know that the winner of the tournament will have a belt. I'm here to get a belt. I want to get two belts and be the first two brothers in the MMA world to have every belt. My brother would have the UFC belt, the WEC belt. I'd have the Bellator belt and the PFL belt. That's my main goal at the moment.

DN: What did he say to you?

SP: He was excited for me. He had some great times over there. The PFL is just like any other organization. There's some tough competition there. It's a different organization from what I was used to. Bellator to PFL... I haven't even got to set my foot in that cage yet. I'm sure it's going to be a little different of an experience, but at the end of the day, it's MMA, and this is what I do for my career and my job. I'm just excited. He's very excited for me as well.

DN: Can you fight for the tournament next year? Does that interest you?

SP: Yeah, I believe that's the goal. I'm going to try to get two fights in this year, and then next year I'll be competing in the tournament. We'll see how things go. I missed my chance at competing in the Bellator tournament. I tore my ACL, so I never got to feel that tournament format. I would love to feel that in my career. So next year, it looks like it's good to go.

DN: You're coming off two defeats, what did you learn from that?

SP: You know what? The fight with Patchy, I went in there with a lot of just negative energy. I had a lot of things happen to me that camp that... Obviously, it is what it is. He beat me that night. He was the better man. But I went into that fight fairly damaged. And the Horiguchi fight, it was just a different stadium. It was a whole different feel, fighting inside of a ring, doing MMA inside of a ring. I literally went to his hometown and tried to beat him. It was a whole different experience, but I think I’ve grown from both those situations, and they made me a better person and a better fighter, a better athlete. I even got to box a couple of times outside of my MMA career. I did a boxing fight. In November, I did an exhibition match, and then I went over to India and fought my first professional match. I got a lot of experience with my time off. Honestly, it's been a blast just traveling the world and doing what I love to do and testing the waters.

DN: When you started at UFC, your brother Anthony was a lightweight champion. How did you cope with that pressure being a champion's brother and to build your own path?

SP: At first, it was definitely tough. I was only 20 years old at the time, so I didn't have the maturity I have now or even just the belief in myself. I was just figuring things out as I was going along in the UFC, fighting some tough guys. I fought Henry Cejudo, I fought [Joseph] Benavidez, I fought Rob Font - some tough guys that are still successful to this day. It was tough. I put a lot of pressure on myself and definitely got crushed. I was very much crushed by the pressure sometimes, but I also made it to number two in my division before I left. I felt like I had some unfinished goals, but things didn't line up there, so I just went to a new spot and found my way again.

DN: What was your toughest fight in your career?

SP: My toughest fight? I've had a couple of them, honestly, in different situations. I would say Henry Cejudo was a tough fight just because of the spots he put me in — he really exposed my game. I was pretty young when I fought him. I was like 24, 25, very close to a title shot. I missed that one. Rob Font was a tough one too. I went up to 135 [lbs] just after fighting at 125 about a month and a half earlier. Jumping up in weight class... I remember looking at Rob Font like, “Man, this guy's really big compared to me.” And he beat me up in front of my hometown. So I was in Milwaukee just getting jabbed up all night. That was a tough one too. But I mean, Patchy Mix... It's been a lot of tough fights. Patchy Mix - he took my belt. That was a tough one to swallow. But I'm one of those fighters - I'm not perfect - but I'm going to continue going and continuing my legacy. I have a lot more to show. I'm only 31 years old, so I'm excited to see what the next seven, eight years bring.

DN: You were champion at Bellator, you have that champion mentality. You beat Patrício Pitbull. Is that one of the keys to winning your next belt?

SP: There's going to be different qualities I’ve got to bring next. Personally, I like to go out and get some more finishes. I'm a decision fighter. I'm very smart out there. I like to hit and not get hit. I like to try to keep my face as pretty as possible. I’ve got a pretty wife, so I don't want her to find somebody else. But I think just the adversity I faced these last two years is going to bring a killer out of me, a killer in the cage. It's been an interesting couple of months. I had to learn a lot about myself and grow through some dark times, and I feel that things are ready to shine now.

DN: Can you go into boxing again after your career?

SP: I'd consider it. It was a very fun time competing in boxing. I did really well in my exhibition match, and then I flew over to India and I fought one of their top boxers out there and moved up to 147. I'm a 135er, so I fought a guy who was really way bigger than me at the moment. And I competed with him really well, I think. The scorecards didn't show it. It was his hometown, so I understand that. But I think it was a lot closer than what they scored. And I had some fun out there. It was a great time boxing. I didn’t have to worry about the takedowns and the kicks. So I wasn’t as sore as I leave MMA fights, leaving a boxing fight.