Bellator 272: Sergio Pettis Felt He Needed Adversity to “Come Out Here and Be a Dog”

Sergio Pettis scored the biggest knockout of his career at Bellator 272, in a fight he’d been losing by a long shot up until the fourth round.

The bantamweight champ acknowledged that fact following his spinning back fist KO of Kyoji Horiguchi on Friday, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press. “The first one through four rounds, he was getting me. He was getting me frustrated,” Pettis (22-5) admitted. “He got me with some interesting movement, some in-and-out plays, and I had to face a lot of adversity tonight to get that finish. It was perfect, it was beautiful.”

Pettis displayed some good sportsmanship after landing the knockout blow, pulling up on a follow-up shot. “Once he went down, I wanted to hit him with one more shot, and I realized ‘oh, he’s really out,'” Pettis recalled.

Coach Duke Roufus was honest with his pupil following the third round, telling Pettis that he was down three. Pettis recalled the recent Terrance Crawford boxing match, where Crawford went out and found a way to win when his coach told him something similar. “I felt like I needed that. I needed that in my life, to face that adversity and to make me come out here and be a dog. Round four, I was so different than rounds one to three.”

Apparently, brother Anthony “Showtime” Pettis cashed in on a big bet following his brother’s win. “I’m just glad whoever bet on me, they won some good money tonight,” Sergio Pettis said to that news.

And despite being the underdog with the odds-makers, the reigning champ wasn’t upset at being overlooked. “There’s no reaction to that. I don’t pay attention to that stuff honestly,” he told Cageside Press. “I’m not a betting man, I don’t really tune in to bets and all that. I think it’s just more motivation, everybody overlooks me, and it’s all good. That gave me the drive tonight to be looked at now.”

Watch the full Bellator 272 post-fight press conference with Sergio Pettis above. More coverage from the event can be found below.