MILWAUKEE — Hurting his knee last year, Sergio Pettis says he's glad the went through it.
"Once I tore my ACL, everything was thrown out the window for a bit," Bellator Bantamweight Champion Sergio Pettis says. “I missed out on the chance to win a million dollars. I missed out on three fights. I just enjoyed time with my family and enjoyed things I couldn’t do when I was in training camp. I didn’t realize how banged up I was man.”
The Bellator Bantamweight champion from Milwaukee isn't even 30. Yet he's hungry.
"I learned so much last year going through these hard times. Financially I wasn’t as stable as I’m used to. I went through a lot of hardships last year. It made me a better man, a stronger man, a wiser man," Pettis says.
Pettis admits he needed to gain maturity and confidence.
"I've been a man who’s second-guessed himself a lot. Nowadays I don’t do that. I don’t have that bad habit. I don’t have the negative thoughts, the anxieties, I got past all that. What got me past it is the great people in my life and hard work," Pettis says. "My coach always says you want to 'overstand' fighting, not understand fighting."
Yes, he still trains locally at Roufusport. But this title fight at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on June 16th? He'll feel the love.
"I haven't fought Midwest in quite some time," Pettis says. "To have my family, my friends, my teammates, my supporters come out and put on for Milwaukee MMA, but not only that, the Midwest MMA. There’s a big scene in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan. We have a lot of great champions from the Midwest and I want to show everybody what we’re made of."
Sergio is his own man. But comparisons will always be made to older brother Anthony.
Lance Allan asks, “Does big brother say ‘I’ve got WEC, UFC, you’ve got Bellator, that’s two to one for me?’”
"Nah, it’d be hard to compete with Anthony, he’s got a pretty big resume. I have some time left, I'm only 29 years old and I’m still peaking. I know what I want and what I’m going to get so I’m excited to see how the next five years play out," Pettis says.
Sergio Pettis truly feels like this is his time, admitting when he was nicknamed the Phenom from ages 22 to 25? He wasn't fully ready for the bright spotlight.
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