QUOTABLES: Anthony Pettis on UFC Champ Ben Henderson - "If I was him, I wouldn't want to fight me either"

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"If I was him, I would say the same thing too. I mean, he just won the belt and he doesn't want to give it up that quick and if he fights against me, he's not going to hold on to that belt for a while, I mean, I match up bad for him, and for (him to say) for me to work on my takedown defense, last year he couldn't take me down and we went five rounds and I won that decision. So, if I was him, I wouldn't want to fight me either. Of course, he doesn't want to fight me, for that reason. There is no clear number one contender in the UFC [lightweight] division except myself. I mean Diaz is fighting Jim Miller, and that fight's a long time away. Let's set this up, let's see who's really number one in the lightweight division. I'm the last guy to beat him and I just had one of the best performances of my life, so let's make this happen. He definitely got a lot better, but I got a lot better too, everybody gets better in a year. I don't really see too big a changes, I don't think it's going to be one of those fights that where he's just going to come in and dominate."

-Anthony Pettis talks about new UFC Lightweight Champ Ben Henderson and Henderson's hesitance to face him next for the title (transcribed by BJPenn.com).

Penick's Analysis: Pettis believes he can defeat Henderson again the same as he did the first time around, so the fact that Henderson doesn't think Pettis is next in line isn't necessarily coming as a surprise to Pettis. As I commented yesterday, unless the UFC is giving Frankie Edgar a rematch, Pettis is the fight to make for Henderson from a timing standpoint. It's a rematch I'd love to see play out, and it would be an absolutely competitive and thrilling title fight with their history and how the first fight went. If it's the route the UFC decides to go, they shouldn't get too many complaints.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_12652.shtml

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