Following his razor thin split-decision loss to Robbie Lawler at UFC 195, it looked as if Carlos Condit might be hanging up his gloves for good. It was his second title fight loss in as many attempts (not counting his interim title win over Nick Diaz), the UFC didn’t appear to have any interest in booking an immediate rematch, and Condit himself had mentioned some concerns about the future of his mental well-being. When looking back on his illustrious 39-fight career, it just didn’t seem as if Condit had anything left to prove, which made his impending decision all the more sensible.
On the other hand, pride. If Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn, and Fedor Emelianenko still believe that they have another title run left in them, then why shouldn’t Condit? A win over any top 10 opponent should put him right back in the running, so really, it’d be foolish for Condit *not* to put his health on the line for one last shot at glory, if you think about it.
Thankfully, it appears that this line of thinking is something that “The Natural Born Killer” can get behind, which is why he’s announced that he will in fact be returning to take on fellow top contender Demian Maia at UFC 202.
Details after the jump.
At 38 years of age, Maia is basically living, breathing proof that the 32-year-old Condit may very well have his best years still ahead of him. The Brazilian grappling specialist is currently riding a six fight win streak including one-sided wins over Matt Brown, Gunnar Nelson, and Neil Magny and seems destined for a title shot himself, which makes a matchup with Condit damn near poetic if you ask me.
Prior to his loss at UFC 195, Condit put the whooping of a lifetime on Thiago Alves en route to a second round TKO finish and should make for a tough style matchup against Maia, with the winner undoubtedly being on the short list of challengers for the welterweight title. That is, unless the current crop of contenders (Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson) find themselves in a Hendricks-Lawler-MacDonald rematch love triangle like we’ve seen before. Which knowing our luck will almost certainly happen, for the MMA Gods are a cruel and unforgiving bunch.
In other welterweight fight booking news, Dong Hyun Kim has agreed to face Neil Magny at UFC 202 in a matchup that will likely earn the winner a chance to get slaughtered by the Condit-Maia winner, the Woodley-Lawler loser, or maybe Johny Hendricks. After seeing his 4-fight win streak halted by “T-Wood” (I’m sorry, “The Chosen One”) back in 2014, Kim bounced back last year with back-to-back wins over Josh Burkman and Dominic Waters. Magny is similarly enjoying a bit of a rebound streak, having scored three straight wins over Erick Silva, Kelvin Gastelum, and Hector Lombard since being dominated by Maia at UFC 190.
Fun fact: Magny has fought 11 times in the past 2 years, which is just two fights shy of what former P4P king Cain velasquez has fought in his entire UFC career.
UFC 202 goes down on August 20th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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