Despite the talk seeming to involve everyone but him, Carlos Condit remains confident that he will hold the ultimate trump card in his championship fight in November.
“It doesn’t bug me, if anything it motivates me. The fact that I’m kind of being looked past, it kind of puts a little bit of a fire under my ass,” Condit said on The MMA Hour about his upcoming UFC 154 fight against Georges St. Pierre.
“I love kind of being the spoiler. I was the spoiler in the Nick Diaz-Georges St Pierre scenario. Now I get to play that role again.”
Condit said he isn’t worried about all the hype being broadcast around a megafight between GSP and Anderson Silva and said that he believes their welterweight showdown in Montreal will be more than exciting enough for fans looking ahead towards a superfight.
“The hype for the superfight between Georges and Anderson is huge. It’s been talked about for a long time,” Condit said. “The fight with me and Georges, there is not as much hype on it. Honestly I really don’t think that matters. I think we are going to have a hell of a fight. People are going to be wondering why they weren’t so excited about it, after the fight.”
Condit, the fellow member of the Greg Jackson gym, is used to playing spoiler before as he beat out Nick Diaz at UFC 143 to throw a wrinkle in the game plan of the good-guy/bad-guy showing between GSP and Diaz.
But unlike Diaz, Condit said he believes that even GSP’s fans respect his abilities.
“I didn’t feel any hostility at all,” Condit said after his UFC press obligations in Montreal earlier this month.
“They were great. They were excited and cheering for Georges. He’s there hometown guy. But I got a pretty warm reception as well. Everybody was very respectful and it really strikes me as a great fight town. The fans seem knowledgeable and respectful. I can’t wait to go out in November.”
While both he and GSP train under Greg Jackson, Condit said that won’t be a problem when they take the Octagon in Montreal.
“I never have trained with Georges. We’ve never sparred each other,” Condit said. “We’ve been at the gym at the same time maybe two or three times. The last couple of years he has come down here less and less.
“I’m not working with Greg on an individual basis. We’re not game planning, or were not working on specific techniques. He does run classes, he runs practice for the fighters and I’m there training during that time. As far as working with me specifically for this fight or specifically for Georges, he has completely stepped away.”
Condit said he doesn’t believe that St. Pierre’s leg injury will present a problem either.
“Georges is one of the best fighters to ever grace the Octagon. I think he was rehabbing and recover his knee, but he was also doing whatever he could to keep his skills sharp and improve in some areas also,” Condit said.