Feb 15, 2012 - With welterweight contenders like Jake Ellenberger and Johny Hendricks itching to make their case for a shot at UFC gold, interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit could be looking at some tough decisions in the coming months.
After winning a unanimous decision over Nick Diaz at UFC 143, the newly-minted interim title-holder seems to have won the right to challenge Georges St-Pierre for the undisputed 170-pound strap. But as he told me when I spoke to him for this SI.com story this week, whether he'll opt to risk another fight in the meantime will likely depend on how long he’ll have to wait.
"Honestly, it depends on the recovery timeline for Georges St-Pierre," Condit said. "If he’s going to be out until November [or] December, then I might consider taking another fight in the meantime just because the timing would work out. I’d have three or four months to train for something mid-year, and then three or four months to train for Georges St-Pierre at the end of the year. If he’s going to be back a little sooner, I’d probably just wait."
Recent projections from St-Pierre and the UFC seem to be targeting a fall 2012 return to action, though it’s far from a sure thing at this point. With Ellenberger and Diego Sanchez squaring off on FUEL tonight, and Hendricks slated to meet Josh Koscheck in May, there could easily be more than one welterweight with a strong case for a fight against Condit, assuming the interim champ could be talked into it.
One factor in his decision-making could be the public’s response to his win over Diaz. Many fans were critical of Condit’s approach in that fight, which might very well encourage him to fight again sooner rather than later in order to answer those critics.
Condit admitted to being surprised by the level of vitriol from some fans, but insisted that by demonstrating his ability to stick to a game plan, he’d only made it tougher for future opponents to prepare for him.
"I employed a strategy to fight my fight, and I guess people don’t really understand that for whatever reason," he said. "And that’s fine, everybody has their own opinion. But honestly? I’m there to win fights. I’ve shown that I’m dangerous, that I can knock people out, that I can finish people, and now I’ve shown that I can stick to a strategy and execute a game plan. I’m a dynamic fighter. In the next fight, you might see something completely different than what you saw in the last fight. I think that’s where I’m going to have a lot of success and where I’m going to be very dangerous to other guys in the division."
Against Diaz, Condit said, he expected to have to adjust his approach as the fight wore on, but Diaz "had one gear" from start to finish. If anything, he said, he simply had to keep reminding himself not to be drawn in by Diaz’s mid-fight trash-talk, as tempting as it might have been.
"There were a couple times where I just wanted to get in there and brawl with the kid. But I knew that that wasn’t the smartest thing to do. My instincts told me to shut his mouth, but I’ve been training to stick to my game plan and do what I did. He did kind of suck me into that briefly, but I snapped right back out of it."
As for GSP, who made it known before the fight that he wanted Diaz to win in order to set up a future grudge match, Condit doesn’t have any hard feelings. In fact, he understands perfectly why the champ would rather fight Diaz than him, he said, and he doesn't blame him one bit.
"Georges has a legitimate personal beef with Nick. Nick disrespected him on live TV in front of millions of people, and Georges is pissed off about that. Honestly, it doesn’t have a lot to do with me."
10 comments
Comments
Condit needs to defend title
In my personal opinion even though i understand why condit is waiting for GSP ( Title fight/ potential to earn the ufc welterweight title meaning more $$$ for him and his family) he should at least defend his title once more. If he was ready to do a rematch with Diaz, then y not fight again. Condit left a bad impression of himself on his last fight, and guarantee u right now fans will be a little bit more hesitant to buy a Condit PPV; However, if Condit defends his belt at least once, and lets say he finishes his opponent, or wins in dominant fashion then the hype on condit will come back, and the fight vs GSP will create a lot of fan interest. Right now i’m not sure how many fans are willing to pay $60 to c either Condit running from GSP while GSP runs after him throwing Jabs, and condit landing baby kicks, or GSP in missionary position on top of condit for 5 rounds.
What you going to do when you know who? How you going to deal with the man of steel? And how will you react to Sonnen's attack?
by Alfxtream on Feb 15, 2012 1:42 PM EST reply actions
dude, im with you on this one. After this last performance, how can anyone be excited to watch Condit vs GSP?
by grizzly907 on Feb 15, 2012 2:43 PM EST up reply actions
How
can a fight between the top 2 welterweights in the world not excite you. Are you an MMA fan? Or, are you just a fan of KO’s? When you have two very evenly matched opponents, the wins come from the technica details of the fight, and how can a MMA fan NOT enjoy that?
by Hulka's Big Toe on Feb 15, 2012 6:33 PM EST up reply actions
TECHNICAL
Crap I wish this place had a better spell check . . .
by Hulka's Big Toe on Feb 15, 2012 6:34 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah I hope guys like that watch the prelims.
That’s where you’ll find mismatches and complete beatdowns.
What's this war in the heart of nature? Why does nature vie with itself? The land contend with the sea? Is there an avenging power in nature? Not one power, but two?
by Kwisatz Haderach on Feb 15, 2012 7:12 PM EST up reply actions
fact
yeah right. gsp avoided fitch, then diaz, then condit twice. no way. this is it. he needs to defend against all three.
by One Bad on Feb 17, 2012 3:35 AM EST up reply actions
If St. Pierre REALLY wants to fight Diaz, this is what he'll do:
He’d come out and call a press conference saying something along these lines: “Wit all due respect to Carlos Condit, I have spoken to my managers and coaches, as well as Dana White and…… I haf decided to vacate de Welter-wait tital and chal-lenge Nick Diaz to fite me in de octagon. I do not make dis decision litely, but I really want to fite Nick Diaz. He has publicly disrespected me but now dere are no excuses. Carlos Condit is a great Welter-wait champion who I wood like to fite for de tital down de line, but I feel Nick Diaz is a better chal-lenge for me at dis point in my ca-rear.”
by Kid Dinomite on Feb 15, 2012 3:22 PM EST reply actions
the un-funnyness of your pseudo French Canadien accent aside
i agree. GSP has reached the pinnacle of this sport and he has already proved that he can dominate this division. getting the title back should be one of his goals, of course, but another goal should be to shut Nick Diaz up, once and for all. GSP has it in him, but the fans want to see it. he hasn’t truly “finished” an opponent in about 4 years. and no, i don’t count the BJ Penn corner stoppage. if it were up to BJ, he’d have come out for the next round.
GSP, your fans want to see you knock Diaz the f*ck out. make it happen.
by The J on Feb 15, 2012 4:56 PM EST up reply actions
I guess people don't think
that GSP will take Diaz down, just like everyone else who beat diaz in the UFC, and lay on top of him? I just see GSP doing taking it to Diaz in the most boring way possible. At least Condit stood up with Diaz and gave him a chance to catch him on the Chin. I seriously doubt George would do that. The only people he stood with (Kos and Shields) are not great strikers by any means. The point is that with Nick and Condit, GSP is going to take them down and impose his will. This is my opinion of course…based on the past.
by ChrisOB on Feb 15, 2012 5:59 PM EST reply actions
diaz is just misunderstood
diaz is an angry young man for sure. but if you actually watch some of his interviews while he is not hyped he actually makes some sense. he just has to be angry to fight, and thats really the way it should be.
the condit fight (or lack thereof) was a pathetic fight in the sense that condit acted like the champ and that diaz had to “take” the title from him. in fact they were both challengers and needed to earn the title shot at gsp.
condit ran, showed no heart and did nothing to change his game when his strikes didnt land.
if diaz would have had the same “plan” and condit, they both would have stood across the octagon and texted each other.
and i though diaz had dissed gsp in front of all those fans, but in reality he was just PUMPED immediately after the fight. if you watch the end of diazs fight before he fought condit he did the same thing. immediately after winning that fight he looked into the camera and screamed “where are you at carlos?”
diaz is simply one of the few very veteran fighters who hasnt mellowed as his career has moved forward. he wants to fight instead of out-pointing you.
and really, isnt that why we watch mma?
by qt3dot14 on Feb 17, 2012 12:38 AM EST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed