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The UFC's lightweight champion, Anthony “Showtime” Pettis returns to action this weekend after over a year on the sidelines due to injury. Some fans have gone so far as to give Pettis a new nickname, Shelf-time.

I have written extensively about Pettis in the past. We've discussed his solid boxing fundamentals, his excellent kicking game, and his beautiful offensive ringcraft. It was this latter factor which I previously asserted was the most important to his excellence in the cage. But I think #TheTimeIsNow to talk about what really makes Pettis so unique. The world might not be ready, but with the belt firmly in Pettis' hands the doubters have no choice but to accept the significance of Pettis' traditional martial arts skills.

You knew there was something fishy going on. Pettis comes from Duke Roufus' Muay Thai camp but looks nothing like a kickboxer on the feet. He's the protégé of a top quality combination striker and he rarely throws more than three strikes in succession? No, I don't buy that for a second. Just smoke and mirrors. But what else would expect... from a ninja?

The truth is that Anthony Pettis has been defeating opponent after opponent using the black arts of ninjutsu, and the sooner the lightweight division comes to realize that, or the UFC bans this filth, the better.

No ring craft or set ups today. Only the techniques of the old ninjutsu scrolls.

Ninjutsu is not so much a fighting art as it is an art of deception. A shinobi will spend his life perfecting not only his combative techniques, but also his evasive ones. Among the most important is the subset of techniques known as Dotonjutsu—earth techniques. These include the sneaking techniques—high stepping through long grass, submerging oneself in a lake and most importantly, climbing.



A vantage point can always be found two and a half feet off of the ground.

Pettis will often make as if to leave the cage as he runs up the fence. Feigning cowardice is shinobi 101. As soon as his opponent is thinking “Oh, he's given up,” Pettis will rebound off of the fence and nail them with a strike.

Rebounding techniques, or Shoten-waza, are an invaluable tool to the ninja. But they are honed over years of practice. You will have seen the video of the amateur heavyweight in the tuxedo rash guard who attempted a Pettis-esque Shoten-waza and wound up on his back. There's simply so many ways they can go wrong—in the cage or in the real world.

Pettis will often show the cunning of a traditionally trained assassin. When the fight is going his way, he will often feign a stumble or drop to his hands and knees. Crouching stances seem like a position of considerable disadvantage, but a shinobi will use the moment of advantage he concedes to the opponent in order to attempt a big money strike.

This is vintage ninjutsu. Oh no, I've fallen...

Back sweep!

I'll just crouch down here to get my wind back...

Pocket sand!

When you're working against world class fighters with hair trigger reactions, you needn't drop all the way to the floor. The cartwheel kick has become a trademark of Pettis' game.

Perhaps most important in Pettis' arsenal is his tokui-waza (favourite technique). While I can't vouch with absolute certainty to what Pettis was doing through his youth when he claims to have been training with Roufus, I can assert with some confidence that he was probably in the forest, drilling this. Stopping his kick just before a candle and attempting to put out the flame, attempting to kick through the sheet of a waterfall without getting his foot wet. Standard ninja movie tropes, because they work.

We could focus on the purely technical: the fact that Pettis' Taekwondo style round kick fires to twelve o'clock where many fighters aim to kick at one or two o'clock. Notice that Pettis' hips turn so completely that his cup faces the opposite wall to it's beginning position. And that Pettis connects with his foot and lower shin, rather than his mid shin, much of the time, giving him a deceptively long kick. Finally, Pettis' knee comes all the way across in front of him, making it hard for his opponent to punch him after the kick.

But that's not the important stuff. Guys getting fixated on that is why Pettis keeps getting away with this. The important point is Pettis' mind control. If you haven't read the seminal work of 1980s ninjutsu guru, largely fictional character, and aspiring third member of the Rubberbandits, Ashida Kim, you won't understand my meaning.

In Ninja Mind Control, Kim writes about the third eye—concealed in the forehead—and its importance as a window to the soul. Often in his fights, you can see Pettis staring into it, looking to paralyze his opponent, for the moment that he will deliver his kick or attempt a submission. The armbar against Henderson came as Benson attempted to elbow Pettis, posturing enough for Pettis to see into his third eye.

The one opponent to trouble Pettis over recent years has been Clay Guida. Why? Because his constant movement prevented Pettis from targeting the third eye. Much of the fight was spent in Pettis' guard, where Pettis' usual submission attempts proved ineffectual because he could not work his hypno-tricks on The Carpenter. Guida spent the entire fight chest-to-chest with Pettis, dropping short shoulder strikes.

The shoulder strike being the only strike from guard where no separation is needed, there is no chance of Pettis catching a glance at his man's forehead. The fact that the shoulder strike is an excellent stalling tactic, used to prevent actually having to fight or work from guard is neither here nor there.

If Gilbert Melendez can avoid the fence, check the kicks, ignore Pettis' faked falls to the ground, and avoid meeting Pettis' gaze with his forehead at UFC 181, he might stand a chance. If not, it's going to be up to another fighter in the UFC's lightweight division to counter the ninjutsu chops of Anthony Pettis. Or better yet, we ban this foul play from the UFC altogether.

Pick up Jack Slack's ebooks at his blog Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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