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Success has a way of softening professional fighters. Once they lose those sharp edges of hardship, they dull in fights.

You remember “Rocky III,” right? Renowned MMA coach Duke Roufus does. It’s partially how he explains Anthony Pettis went from the top of the MMA world to struggling to stay in the top-15 rankings.

“As ‘Apollo’ said, ‘We got civilized,’” Roufus told MMAjunkie Radio.

Pettis (20-7 MMA, 7-6 UFC), a former UFC lightweight champion, once had his face on a box of Wheaties. Maybe it wasn’t “Rocky III” levels of wealth and success, but he was a poster boy – and paid well for his work.

Since the loss of his belt, though, Pettis is 2-5 in the octagon. He was badly beaten by Dustin Poirier in his most recent fight, though Roufus claims he didn’t get a fair shake from the referee and carried an open cut when he went into the fight.

Still, there’s no doubt Pettis has fallen a long way from where he was, and a loss to Michael Chiesa (14-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC), his upcoming opponent at UFC 226, would be devastating to his goal of reclaiming the title.

When the Chiesa fight was proposed, Roufus sat down with Pettis to underline the situation and to plan for a comeback. The first order of business was establishing the right mindset.

“One thing I told him is if we’re going to do this from now on, we’ve got to be about that life,” Roufus said.

There was no pushback from Pettis, and the two got to work on a plan to get back in the win column. There wasn’t much Roufus had to do to motivate his charge.

“This year, Anthony’s learned more about fighting, being a veteran, being a master, and focusing,” he said. “This six months has been more legendary than (the last three years). He’s made up for lost time, and I’m expecting a special Anthony Pettis to show up on July 7th.”

Originally scheduled to meet in April at UFC 223, Pettis and Chiesa were rescheduled when Conor McGregor’s bus rampage left Chiesa injured and unable to compete. The extra time came as a blessing to Pettis, whose matchup serves on the pay-per-view main card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“He’s got that dog back in the fight, that faith, that look, that aggression, and that hunger,” Roufus said. “Unfortunately, it happens (that fighters lose their edge). ‘Rocky’ movies are more realistic than people know.

“For me, if he makes a comeback, it will be one of the most triumphant things I’ve ever done in my life.”

For more on UFC 226, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.