Pettis eyes UFC title shot with latest KO kick

When Anthony Pettis bounced off the cage to land a decisive kick on Benson Henderson in December 2010, in the final bout in World Extreme Cagefighting history, he launched himself to stardom and supposedly earned an immediate shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title.

If Pettis finally gets that shot now, the champion he would face is none other than Henderson, who won the UFC lightweight title by unanimous decision over Frankie Edgar in the main event of UFC 144 on Saturday night at Saitama, Japan.

Pettis also was in action on the card, and another highlight-reel kick vaulted him back into the title picture. He hit Joe Lauzon with a headkick that knocked him out in the first round.

“I feel awesome,” Pettis said. “I knew this is where I’m supposed to be at. I’m the best in the lightweight division. I was supposed to get a title shot last year. (Henderson and I) got some unfinished business. Let’s take care of it.”

Whether Pettis gets that shot right away is yet to be determined. During the postfight news conference, UFC president Dana White seemed to indicate Pettis would be the opponent for Henderson’s first title defense, but backed away from that later Saturday on the UFC on Fuel postfight show.

White said he and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva had both scored the fight in favor of Edgar, and while it is White’s preference that Edgar drop to featherweight, a rematch between Henderson and Edgar is entirely possible.

Edgar feels that is only fair. After taking the belt from BJ Penn in 2010, he had to fight Penn again later that year. Then, after fighting Gray Maynard to a draw in early 2011, Edgar had to get through a rematch with Maynard.

“I’m not trying to shoot anybody out of anything they deserve,” Edgar said. “But I had to do two immediate rematches, so what’s right?”

Henderson said he’ll likely have to get through both opponents, so he’s not concerned with the order.

“Whoever it happens to be, whether it’s Frankie again, I’m down for that,” Henderson said. “Anthony Pettis is a great fighter, very spectacular. If it happens to be Anthony, then so be it. Whoever it is, I’m OK with it. Sounds good to me.

“I believe there’s a long list of guys, Nate (Diaz), Jim (Miller), Frankie, Anthony, let’s do it. Every single one of them.”

Pettis hopes it is his turn. He thought he had earned his title shot when he beat Henderson in their December 2010 meeting, the final WEC fight before it merged into the UFC.

He was to fight the winner of the Edgar-Maynard bout that ended in a draw. Instead of waiting around for the winner of the rematch, Pettis decided to take another fight in the interim and suffered a decision loss to Clay Guida. Pettis rebounded with a decision victory over Jeremy Stephens in October and followed with the “Knockout of the Night” on Saturday against Lauzon.

While Henderson isn’t concerned with his next opponent, he is quite clear about his goal for his reign as champion. He wants to be the longest-reigning champion in UFC history.

“I want to defend (the belt) however many times (middleweight champion) Anderson Silva defends his, plus one,” Henderson said.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.