Carlos Condit is back and as violent as ever.
“The Natural Born Killer,” in his first fight in 14 months, brutalized Thiago Alves en route to a TKO via doctor’s stoppage after the second round Saturday night in the main event of UFC Fight Night 67 in Goiania, Brazil. Condit tore his ACL in a loss to Tyron Woodley at UFC 171 in March 2014 and this was his return. He didn’t seem to feel any ring rust.
In the second round, Condit dropped Alves with a left hand and then bloodied him up with elbow after elbow. Condit landed the kitchen sink on the Brazilian, breaking Alves’ nose — the injury that led to the stoppage. In between the second and third rounds, the doctor stepped in and put an end to the fight. Alves’ nose was so badly broke that part of the bone was popping out near his eyebrow area.
Alves actually looked great in the first round utilizing the perfect strategy of countering Condit’s kicks with leg kicks of his own. It seemed like Condit was favoring that surgically repaired knee, but once he got his range and rhythm in the second he took total control.
Condit (30-8) has now won two of three fights in the UFC and is still one of the best welterweights in the world. He owns wins over Rory MacDonald, Nick Diaz, Jake Ellenberger and Dong Hyun Kim. A top-five opponent will likely be next for the Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA fighter.
Alves (21-9) came in off two straight wins, including a second-round TKO of Jordan Mein at UFC 183 in January. The American Top Team product didn’t do anything Saturday to make people feel like he isn’t still a very dangerous 170-pounder. He should continue getting significant fights.
In the co-main event, Charles Oliveira won a back-and-forth fight against Nik Lentz via submission (guillotine) at 1:10 of the third round. Oliveira won a very fun first round by dropping Lentz with a knee to the body and working him over with superior grappling. Lentz clearly took the second round with suffocating wrestling and solid boxing. Oliveira, though, prevailed with a super slick guillotine in what would have easily been Fight of the Night if not for the main event.
Oliveira (20-4, 1 NC) is still only 25 years old, but he has been in the UFC since 2010. He has won four fights in a row. It could be his time to attempt to crack into the featherweight elite. Lentz (25-7-2, 2 NC) was coming off a win over Manny Gamburyan more than a year ago last May.
Alex Oliveira came up with the biggest win of his career, submitting K.J. Noons with a rear-naked choke at 2:51 of the first round. “Cowboy” slickly took Noons’ back and, when Noons seemed to relax, he sunk in the choke. Oliveira (11-2) was coming off a loss to Gilbert Burns in his UFC debut back in March.
Francimar Barrosso defeated Ryan Jimmo in a very forgettable unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). The best strike of the entire fight was a second-round groin shot by Barrosso in the second round. Jimmo took the entire five minutes and began dry-heaving. Officials had to bring a bucket into the cage in case he vomited. Barrosso (17-4) has now won five of his last six fights.
Francisco Trinaldo pulled out a controversial split decision over Norman Parke in a fight that many people thought Parke won. Trinaldo clearly won the second round and Parke likely won the third. The first was the one up in the air and Trinaldo (16-4) seemed to get the home country nod.
“Brazilian judges are a joke,” Parke said. “I won this fight. I won the first and the third round for sure. I’ll never fight in Brazil again.”
Darren Till got his UFC career started with a bang in the main card opener. The Englishman, who fights out of Brazil’s Team Astra, smoked Wendell Oliveira with brutal elbows leading to a TKO at 2:37 of the second round. Afterward, Till (13-0) said he was trying to elbow Oliveira’s face off.
In the feature fight of the prelims, Rony Jason pulled off a slick triangle choke finish of Damon Jackson in the first round. In an important flyweight fight, Jussier Formiga defeated Wilson Reis by undefeated decision to put him closer to a potential title shot.
Also on the prelims, Danish striker Nicolas Dalby debuted with a split decision win over Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, Mirsad Bektic destroyed Lucas Martins via second-round TKO, Juliana Lima grinded out a unanimous decision win over debuting Ericka Almeida and Tom Breese debuted with a first-round knockout of Luiz Dutra.