Report: Anthony Pettis will fight T.J. Grant next (not Jose Aldo), according to Dana White

It appears the newly-crowned Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will indeed have to honor the 155-pound title shot that T.J. Grant had to forfeit this past weekend (Sat., Aug. 31, 2013) at UFC 164, which took place at BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Immediately after stopping Ben Henderson with a first round armbar finish (watch full video highlights here) to win the belt, Pettis took to the microphone and called out Featherweight champion Jose Aldo (again), hoping to re-book the UFC 163 "super" fight that never materialized because "Showtime" faked sustained a knee injury.

Chan Sung Jung filled his spot, while -- just four weeks later -- Pettis stepped in for Grant, who suffered a concussion in training that whipped mixed martial arts (MMA) conspiracy theorists into a lather, thinking the promotion pulled some behind-the-scenes strings to coordinate a more fan-friendly pay-per-view (PPV) main event.

Accusations that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), as well as Grant, branded outrageously incorrect, even though Aldo's trainer, Andre Pederneiras, was among the skeptics. The comments from Pederneiras apparently struck a chord with White, who at the UFC 164 post-fight media scrum (watch it here), stated that his words made it appear that Aldo is "scared" of Pettis.

But, don't pay attention to Dana!

Regardless of the back-and-forth, White stepped in earlier this afternoon to take control of the situation and clear the air, telling Kevin Iole of Yahoo!Sports.com that Pettis will make his first title defense against Grant at a future date and event to be determined.

The actual logistics will likely hinge on the health of Pettis' knee, which apparently required a recent MRI to determine if there is any structural damage. Results are "unclear" at this time, unlike Pettis' next opponent.

He earned it.