Anthony Pettis aiming to fight 3 times in 2015, starting in early Spring

The UFC lightweight division's reigning king, Anthony Pettis may have only fought three times in the last two years, but moving forward, he plans on getting in three fights in 2015, and wants his first bout to be in early spring. In an interview with UFC Tonight's Ariel Helwani, Pettis' manager, Mike Roberts stated that "Showtime" would like to fight in either March or April, with an immediate turnaround to fight again in July, then once more toward the end of the year.

The two names in the obvious running for the next shot are Khabib Nurmagomedov and Rafael dos Anjos. Nurmagomedov is currently injured, but says he'll be ready in July. That leaves the road wide open for dos Anjos to claim that early Spring spot. Win or lose, it would still make sense for Pettis to fight Khabib in July.

Nurmagomedov's camp is not so sure Khabib will be fighting Pettis in July, though. Manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz feels that dos Anjos is a bad match-up for the champion and that he'll end up taking the title from Anthony. He went on to add that he thinks the UFC is shielding Pettis from the Dagestani wrecking machine.

Bloody Elbow will keep our readers updated on any developments with this story as more information becomes available.