ANAHEIM, Calif. – Chris Avila added a big name, and perhaps the biggest record, to his resume Saturday when he defeated former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis by unanimous decision in a six-round boxing bout on the “Last Man Standing” main card.
Avila (6-1), a longtime friend and training partner of Nate Diaz, competed in the UFC with his mentor but endured a rocky career in MMA before transitioning full-time to boxing.
Avila entered the boxing world as a mixed martial artist and, although he had a sub-50% win rate, he continues to wow critics with each victory.
“I'm a real boxer, but a lot of people don't know that,” Avila told MMA Junkie and other reporters during his post-fight press conference. “All the haters that hate on me in the comments and online and say bad things about me, go suck my dick.”
Pettis (1-1) is a household name in mixed martial arts circles, but Avila believes a win against him would be worth much more than that: Pettis is coming off a bout against boxing legend Roy Jones in 2023, and Avila is happy to use the transitive law to do the math of boxing.
“It's great to win,” Avila said. “(Pettis) just beat Roy Jones Jr., he's 55 years old, but it was Roy Jones Jr. So whether he won or if he was in a draw with Mike Tyson, I guess? Either way, I feel like I got the win tonight and I've got some credentials. That's good.”
As for his future plans, Avila plans to continue with boxing rather than returning to MMA, and if things go his way, he'll be facing some big names in the future.
“I want a big name,” Avila said. “Anthony Pettis was a good name. A big name. I want to fight the winner. If something happens between Nate and Masvidal, I want to fight Masvidal next. But I only want to fight the winner, so f**k Masvidal.”
“… For now, I'm going to focus on boxing. I'm taking it seriously. I'm taking my career seriously. I'm on a six-fight win streak right now. I want to fight real fighters, real boxers, big names. I want to push myself to get to the top.”
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