CHICAGO – Sergio Pettis feels he’s in a pivotal moment of his fighting career.

The Bellator bantamweight champion is just days away from defending his belt against arguably the greatest fighter the promotion has ever seen – former Bellator lightweight champion and current Bellator featherweight titleholder Patricio Freire. The bout goes down in the co-main event of Bellator 297, which takes place Friday at Wintrust Arena.

Pettis (22-5 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) believes this is the biggest fight so far of his career.

“Biggest fight of my career, for sure,” Pettis said at Tuesday’s Bellator 297 media day. “Especially after the situation coming off 18 months and getting thrown into the deep end with a killer like Patricio. Definitely a big task ahead of me and the biggest fight, for sure.”

Pettis hasn’t fought since defending his belt against Kyoji Horiguchi in December 2021 at Bellator 272. On the other hand, Freire (35-5 MMA, 23-5 BMMA) has been active. Although logging in his first fight of 2023, “Pitbull” is coming off a successful 2022 where he picked up three straight wins.

Freire is attempting to get a title in a third weight class – something no one has done in a major MMA promotion. Pettis understands the magnitude of the situation, but won’t let Freire’s legacy talk get to him.

“I’m not really worried about this whole narrative of three-time champion or even just me coming back,” Pettis said. “I feel like I’ve gotten better, to be honest. I’ve gotten a lot better in this sport and as a person. I’m just really excited to do that. All that narrative at the end of the day is cool for social media and all that stuff, and all the media and whatever, but I’m going to go out there and do what I do. Get this job done and create my legacy.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 297.