Carlos Condit speaks in detail about his MMA return, after a year-long break from competition.
After his stinging first round submission loss to Demian Maia in August 2016, Carlos Condit suddenly became uncertain about his fighting future. The sheer disappointment led him to question whether or not he is still worthy to compete against the top names in the UFC’s welterweight division today.
“The pressure of being one of the top guys for almost a decade — it’s been awesome, I loved being involved in the sport at the time that I had, got to do for what I loved for a living for a long time. But I don’t know man. I don’t know if I belong here anymore,” the 33-year-old Condit said during the post-fight press conference.
“The Natural Born Killer” will be making his return at UFC 219 this December against Neil Magny, aiming to snap his two-fight skid. And the decision to carry on with his career was simply because the desire to fight at the highest level of the sport never really left him.
“That feeling never really left honestly, man,” Condit said on a recent MMA Hour episode (via MMA Fighting). “I’m a fighter, this is what I love to do, there’s obviously a lot of different factors that go into making decisions. And as important as what I’m doing with my life and career and all that stuff. I think I wanted to fight, I’ll probably want to fight until the day I’m dead.”
Condit admitted that he was initially on the fence about making a return, but it all came down to the realization that fighting is the one craft that he knows he is best at.
“There’s a lot of different factors. I still love to fight, I still love to train, I love the process, I love the people I’ve surrounded myself with, I love my team and also, honestly there’s a financial piece to this, too.”
“This is my trade, this is what I do. I didn’t go to college,” Condit said. “I don’t have a whole lot of options as far as backup plans. I’ve got bills to pay and mouths to feed, so, let’s strap up the gloves and get to it.”
UFC 219 will be the company’s year-end card, slated for December 30th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.