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The insane, three-round "Fight of the Night" between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight contender Gilbert Melendez and 155-pound lunatic Diego Sanchez -- which took place at UFC 166 last month in Houston, Texas -- was so entertaining that even Anthony Pettis was impressed.
Just don't expect to see him in that kind of war (video) in his next fight.
Or ever, for that matter, as "Showtime" tells BJPenn.com he's far too intelligent as a fighter to let himself get dragged into a rock-em, sock-em robot type of slugfest, even if it gets the crowd on its feet. After all, why take unnecessary punishment if you don't have to?
Says Pettis:
"That's not my fight. You'll never see Anthony Pettis in a fight like that. I'm too intelligent, too skilled and too versatile to be standing with someone toe-to-toe. It was pretty entertaining, though, and the fans love it ... it's just not really my style. Melendez is a great fighter and I'm sure we're going to fight in the future. It was a very entertaining fight with Diego and Melendez but like I said, it's not my style. You're never going to see me in a match like that. Too much skill and talent to be caught up in a brawling match ... I'm not saying I won't get into an exchange, that's just not my style to get hit like that. If you watch my fights, I've gotten hit once or twice out of my whole career. It's not that I can't take it, it's just that I don't need to get hit. Why get hit in the face when I can hit you before you hit me? I'm not afraid to get into an exchange but I have an intelligent fight style and I think Josh is going to have a problem with it and anybody in the 155, 145 is going to have a problem with my fight style."
He may not have a say in the matter at UFC on FOX 9.
That's where Pettis defends his lightweight title against division number one contender Josh Thomson, who looks to upset the silky-smooth striker in the network television main event (details), which pops off at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California, on Dec. 14, 2013.
"The Punk" knows a thing or two about making fights ugly, just as he does about knocking out highly-rated strikers. But does he have the intelligence, skill and versatility to hang and bang with "Showtime?"
Time will tell.
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