Barely 48-hours departed from his win at UFC On Fox 21, Anthony Pettis was back in the gym in Milwaukee and supporting his teammate CM Punk during a media workout.

Pettis was in good spirits having just broken a three-fight skid against Charles Oliveira this past weekend. The former UFC lightweight champion gave a reporter from 120 Sports his breakdown of how the bout played out.

“It was tough fight,” Pettis said. “I knew he was going to be a tough opponent because he’d previously dropped down from 155 pounds as well. I’d seen him before but I didn’t know he was going to have that much heart; that’s why I’ve got so much respect for the guy.

“I thought I had him finished in the first round—I saw his eyes roll into the back of his head, but then when I punched him again he just came back to consciousness. It happened like three times and I kind of gassed myself out trying to finish him.

“In the second round he came out like guns blazing and I was just like—I need to catch my breath a little bit. It felt great to get him in that third round.”

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The bout with Oliveira was Pettis’ debut in the featherweight division and the first time he’d made 146 pounds on the scales. Pettis said he was thankful for the new approach he’d taken to his nutrition thanks to his new nutrition specialist.

“The weight cut was a little interesting,” Pettis admitted. “I don’t remember the last time I weighed 146 pounds. I hired Loutrition who is a nutritionist out of New Jersey, but he works out in Albuquerque and I met him in Jon Jones’ camp. He helped out big time and without him I wouldn’t have made the weight class.”

Having put a big marker down in the featherweight division by defeating the number #6 ranked guy, Pettis is now focused on becoming a two-weight champion and challenging for the title.

“I’m here for belts, that's why I set out to fight,” Pettis said. “I want to be a champion and prove my skill set against the best in the world. I didn’t pick an easy fight, I picked the number #6 in the world. Maybe one more and I get a title shot or maybe they just give it to me.

“Jose Aldo is the guy that had that belt the whole time and Conor came in and stole it from him. You know, Conor it was a great performance by him, but there are other great fights in this weight class. BJ Penn coming back, there’s Frankie Edgar, there’s Max Holloway—man, there’s so many good fights in this weight class. I didn’t even look at the weight class when I moved down here, I just said let’s look at the weight class and see what happens after.”

Pettis was speaking on an evening where most of the attention was on Punk and seeing him complete an open workout session. Unsurprisingly, the former champion had nothing but good things to say about his teammate.

“Progression is what I’ve seen,” Pettis said. “This guy didn’t come in a stud. He came in like everyone else, for real, with no mixed martial arts experience. He’s fighting some of the best guys in the world in this training room and there are young hungry bucks in here that can throw down. So for him to show up every day and throw down just shows you how much this guy wants it.”