Anthony Pettis is the first to admit that the last five years of his UFC career have played out in far from ideal fashion.
The former lightweight champion has shown flashes of peak 'Showtime', best exemplified with his innovative tweak to a superman punch that led to his knockout of Stephen Thompson last year.
Rewind a touch further and you'll find a beautifully crafted triangle armbar of Michael Chiesa, who's now a legitimate contender at welterweight. A three-round war with Nate Diaz saw the cult favourite edge him by the slimmest of margins.
But any win has been followed by a loss and that inconsistency has prevented Pettis from re-establishing his title credentials.
That trend can be traced back to his loss to Rafael Dos Anjos back in 2015, where the Brazilian halted a hot streak that seemed to herald the arrival of the Pettis era
"After that, things just weren't the same," Pettis tells Newshub. "I wouldn't say I lacked motivation, but it was just different.
"I just didn't feel intrigued by fighting guys without a belt on the line.
"I got complacent back then and I was a little burnt out. When you've had the belt, there is nothing you won't do to get it.
"It is literally the most important thing in the world, as a fighter, to be champion - it's life-changing."
The Milwaukee native followed that performance with a pair of hard-fought losses and was left searching for answers, even switching weight classes in both directions.
Initially, his decision to move down to featherweight reignited his competitive fire and paid immediate dividends with a win over Charles Oliveira.
But the demands of a hectic schedule and a gruelling cut caught up with Pettis, who missed weight leading into an emphatic loss against Max Holloway.
"I literally put my body through hell to make 145 pounds, so I fell back into a rut after I lost to Max," he recalls.
"I bounced around from 155-170 and back again - I was all over the place. I'm just trying to find my home again."
Now relatively more settled at welterweight, the perennial top-10 contender has used his time in lockdown to refocus and retool, and now believes he's right where he needs to be, heading into his clash with Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone at UFC 249 in Florida on Sunday (NZT).
The two veterans know each other's game well. Both began their tenures in the WEC (a promotion later purchased by the UFC) and squared off in 2013, when Petits crumpled Cerrone with a patented roundhouse kick to the body for a first-round TKO.
"I knew this moment would happen again," Pettis says. "I'm glad that, before I am done, we are able to run it back.
"We grew up in this game together, and now we are both vets and have kind of cleared the table on opponents.
"He and I have earned that 'Octagon Vet' tag, and I truly believe this could be the best fight either of has had."
The UFC's scramble to get back on the sporting map during the COVID-19 pandemic means just a three-week turnaround for preparation, which Pettis insists doesn't faze him one bit.
"This fight popped up on three weeks' notice, and me and Cowboy have that same mindset of 'anytime, anywhere and any place', so we both jumped on the chance."
The lockdown period has also provided Pettis an opportunity to reassess his own game and his training methods, which he believes has already paid off.
"My last camp was probably the hardest of my career and I produced a shitty performance," Pettis says, referring to his loss to Carlos Diego Ferreira in January.
"This extra time off with quarantine has definitely allowed me to focus my time on my family and my daughter... just the things I would normally miss in a full camp."
Surprisingly, the restrictions of a quarantine-based training camp have actually been beneficial, according to Pettis.
"I've always said, after a loss, that I wanted to do the next camp differently, but then I'd fall right back into the old routine," he notes.
"But this time, I was forced to reinvent myself and we are really seeing the results. Those little parts of my game that were letting me down, we've been able to pick those apart and focus on the detail.
"Sparring isn't as intense, but the two guys I do have are really good, so it's been quality sessions, specifically working on a game plan for this weekend."
Pettis now has 32 professional fights' worth of experience (22-10) and while he seems to have moved into a different career trajectory, he's still only 33 years old.
He's not done chasing down titles just yet.
"I didn't put up a good performance in my last fight, but I am staying busy… I really love the way that I am feeling leading into this fight."
"I know what I am capable of and the best is coming."
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