UFC lightweight champion
Anthony Pettis has plenty of plans when he returns from rehabbing his
injured knee. Scheduled for surgery Dec. 12 in Los Angeles, CA, Pettis hopes to be ready to compete by midyear 2014.
"The doctors said six to eight months so I'm hoping six months," Pettis told UFC Tonight. "I want to get back by summertime for hopefully a July fight."
After being heavily critical of Pettis' continuing injury woes,
Nate Diaz has put himself squarely in the champ's sights.
"Nate Diaz has been talking so much and in his last fight, he actually looked pretty decent, but harder to judge against
Gray Maynard. I hope Nate works his way up so we can fight."
"Nate's been talking for a while. Even after his last fight, saying 'this is the No. 1 and No. 2 lightweights in the world.' That's taking a shot directly at me. That belt's in my front room. It's there for a reason."
Diaz caught wind of Pettis' statement and responded shortly thereafter:
"You work ur way up u have alot of catching up to do I was injured too still fought..
#1fightayearwhyrutalking"
With title shots here today, gone tomorrow, a Pettis-Diaz matchup isn't too farfetched. Assuming that fight goes according to plan, Pettis says he still has unfinished business with featherweight champion
Jose Aldo. Pettis was previously slated to face Aldo for the 145 pound strap at
UFC 163 in August, but
withdrew from the bout after suffering a torn meniscus.
"Jose Aldo, he has his hands full with Ricardo Lamas. Ricardo Lamas is no easy fight. He's shown he's the No. 1 contender. He fought
Erik Koch, I'm a big fan of Erik Koch, I train with him all the time so I know how good Erik Koch is. For Ricardo to do that to Erik, he's going to give Aldo a run for his money. Hopefully Aldo comes out of that and we've got a super fight.
"I want to fight one more time, hopefully in July. That might set us up for an end of the year super fight. 145 king, 155 king. Who knows? Hopefully all these fights pan out."