Neeraj Goyat To Face MMA Star Anthony Pettis In India
India-West News Desk
NEW DELHI-Indian boxer Neeraj Goyat will face former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in a six-round super welterweight bout on January 23, 2027, with Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Chennai vying to host the contest.
The fight, titled ‘Goyat vs. Pettis: The Indian Uprising’, will be presented by IPBL Boxing and sanctioned by the Indian Boxing Council. Organizers will announce the host city and venue in November.
Goyat, 34, has won his last four fights, most recently in Birmingham in August. His professional record stands at 21 wins, four losses and two draws, including nine knockouts. The Haryana-born boxer was the first Indian to be ranked by the World Boxing Council (WBC) and is a former WBC Asia champion.
He signed with US-based boxing and MMA promotion Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, in 2024, becoming its first international fighter. In November that year, he defeated Brazil’s Whindersson Nunes on the undercard of the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing event.
Goyat said he was looking forward to fighting in India after years of competing overseas.
“I have fought in China, in Thailand, in America and in the UK, and every time I was the Indian on somebody else’s card. This time the card is ours,” he said in a statement.
Pettis, 39, won the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) lightweight title in 2010 and the UFC lightweight championship in 2013, defeating Benson Henderson for both. He has a 25-14 record in mixed martial arts (MMA) and lost his most recent professional boxing bout to Jake Paul in 2024.
Pettis is also a co-promoter of the Indian Pro Boxing League and the Indian Fight League, an MMA competition. His younger brother, former Bellator bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis, lost to India’s Sabari Jaishankar by unanimous decision in Hyderabad in March 2025.
The card will also feature Indian boxers Akshay Chahal, Faizan Anwar, Pavan Kalyan, Ritesh Singh and Laldinsanga Ramlawt. Details of the broadcast and ticket arrangements will be announced with the host city.
