“His exit allowed me to hit that spinning back fist,” Sergio Pettis reflects at his crazy KO against Kyoji Horiguchi on Bellator 272

“His exit allowed me to hit that spinning back fist,” Sergio Pettis reflects at his crazy KO against Kyoji Horiguchi on Bellator 272

Sergio Pettis and Kyoji Horiguchi

The Bellator Bantamweight champion, Sergio Pettis entered the biggest test of his MMA career to face the Rizin Bantamweight champion, Kyoji Horiguchi. Pettis was the betting underdog coming into this fight and he pulled out one of the most miraculous comebacks in MMA history.

Kyoji Horiguchi dominated Sergio Pettis for the first three rounds of the fight but he knocked Horiguchi out cold in the fourth round with a spinning back fist. This remarkable victory gave him one of the best highlights of his 27 fight MMA career and even he was a little surprised by the way the fight ended.

Talking about the same in the Bellator 272 post-fight press conference, Sergio Pettis says, “I’m beat up right now, the first one through four rounds, he was getting me. He was getting me frustrated. He got me with some interesting movements, some in-and-out plays, and I had to face a lot of adversity tonight to get that finish. And it was perfect. It was beautiful.”

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“I’ve only got, what, this is like my fourth or fifth knockout ever of my career? So this is 27 fights in and to see this stuff finally happening, it’s beautiful, man.” Pettis admitted that he faced quite a trouble in this round to cope up with Horiguchi’s awkward style.

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After being behind on the judges’ scorecard for three round, Sergio Pettis admitted that his coaches giving him the push in between the round worked as the motivating factor for his win. Sergio Pettis continued, “Once that went down, I wanted to hit him with one more shot — and I realized, oh, he’s really out, but it was just my coach Scott Cushman too, he was telling me to jab, jab away, and every time he’s getting thrown at, he’s giving a reaction.”

“And I think rounds one through four is what got him comfortable exiting without really defending himself. So I threw that kick, missed, and his exit allowed me to hit that spinning back fist.” {H/T MMA Fighting}

Sergio Pettis admitted that he wasn’t happy to see Kyoji Horiguchi going out on a stretcher

Sergio Pettis vs Kyoji Horiguchi Bellator 272
Sergio Pettis vs Kyoji Horiguchi at Bellator 272

The first highlight-reel knockout of Sergio Pettis’s MMA career was indeed a scary sight as Kyoji Horiguchi was carried out on the stretcher after their fight. Pettis wasn’t quite happy to see that but he knows it is a part of their career.

Pettis continued, “It’s not something I want to do, I don’t want to hurt anybody so bad that they’re unconscious like that or have damage later on in their life. So it definitely, it’s part of the job unfortunately, but it is what it is. At the end of the day, it’s kind of bogus to say, but it’s better him than me, so that’s how I’ve got to be when I’m out here. I’m very nice person and kind human being, but he would’ve done the same to me.”

“Honestly, it just makes me want to work harder, I got dominated the first four rounds. I got some stuff that I need to work on, and I definitely got an awesome knockout, but there’s some stuff that I need to for my career for longevity, and that’s what I’m here for. I’ve hopefully got another eight to 10 years in me.” {H/T MMA Fighting}

Also Read: Anthony Pettis, Derek Brunson react to Bellator 272 Sergio Pettis knockout of Kyoji Horiguchi.