5 Defining Moments: Sergio Pettis

Sergio Pettis was labeled a bust by some, but he has spent the last three-plus years fulfilling much of the promise his dynamic skills foretold long ago.

The longtime Duke Roufus protégé will defend his undisputed Bellator MMA bantamweight championship opposite reigning featherweight titleholder Patricio Freire in the Bellator 297 co-main event on Friday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Pettis, 29, has rattled off five consecutive victories, four of them as a member of the Bellator roster. He last appeared at Bellator 272, where he zapped Kyoji Horiguchi with a spectacular spinning backfist in the fourth round of their Dec. 3, 2021 clash.

As Pettis prepares to return to the cage for the first time in well over a year, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Pettis made a successful Ultimate Fighting Championship debut when took a unanimous decision from Will Campuzano as part of the UFC 167 undercard on Nov. 16, 2013 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. Campuzano—a former Legacy Fighting Championship titleholder who replaced the injured Vaughan Lee on short notice—relied heavily on takedowns, scoring with them in the first and third rounds. However, they were not enough to counteract the dynamic offensive attack from Pettis. “The Phenom” wrecked Campuzano’s lead leg with low kicks, threatened him with a modified guillotine choke in Round 2 and cracked the game Texan with punching combinations and well-placed knees. The setback was Camupzano’s in nearly three years and closed the book on his five-fight winning streak.

2. Chin Check

Benoit sprang the upset and put away the burgeoning Roufusport star with punches in the second round of their UFC 185 flyweight prelim on March 14, 2015 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Pettis succumbed to blows a mere 94 seconds into Round 2. Benoit was in real danger up until the finish. Pettis wove together kicks and punches beautifully, swept his counterpart from the bottom after being taken down and racked up some points with his ground-and-pound. Early in the middle stanza, Benoit invited an exchange on the feet, floored the Milwaukee native with a clean left hook and then polished off “The Phenom” with winging lefts and rights. It remains the only knockout loss of Pettis’ 27-fight career.

3. Home Not-So-Sweet Home

Team Sityodtong product Rob Font started to mark his territory as a fully formed contender at 135 pounds when he was awarded a unanimous decision over Pettis in their UFC on Fox 31 bantamweight showcase on Dec. 15, 2018 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. All three cageside judges struck 30-27 scorecards. Pettis was unsuccessful in his return to the division. Font punished him with the jab, mixed in well-timed takedowns paired with ground-and-pound and even threatened him with a kimura in the second round. At a distinct size and reach disadvantage, Pettis struggled to close the distance and was met with significant resistance whenever he moved forward. Font did not endear himself to a hostile crowd, as he took a hometown hero out behind the proverbial woodshed.

4. Flow Chart

Pettis could not have made a stronger first impression in his Bellator MMA debut, as he leveled Alfred Khashakyan with punches before choking him unconscious with a guillotine in the opening round of their featured Bellator 238 attraction on June 25, 2020 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The end came 3:00 into Round 1. The two bantamweight hopefuls threw caution to the wind from the start and chose to trade barbs on the feet. Pettis staggered on the end of a right hand from the Glendale Fighting Club rep, then returned fire. The results were immediate. A savage right hook caught Khashakyan on the jaw, sat him down in the center of the cage and left him exposed to follow-up attacks. Pettis pounced with punches, climbed to full mount and unleashed a hellacious barrage of right hands before biting down in the guillotine. A visibly compromised Khashakyan had neither the time nor the wherewithal to employ counter measures and ultimately lost his grip in reality. It was the sixth of six first-round finishes on the Pettis resume.

5. Rising to the Occasion

Surgical jabs and beautifully timed counters carried Pettis to a career-altering unanimous decision over Juan Archuleta in the Bellator 258 headliner, where he seized the undisputed Bellator MMA bantamweight championship on May 7, 2021 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Scores were 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46. Archuleta spent much of the fight playing into the challenger’s strengths. Pettis turned the Californian’s aggression against him, snapping back his head with stinging jabs and sharp counterpunches from both hands. Even when Archuleta turned to takedowns, he failed to consolidate them with positional control or ground-and-pound, slowly but surely relinquishing his claim on the 135-pound throne.