Carlos Condit left it all inside the Octagon at UFC 154 Saturday night, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to dethrone reigning welterweight king Georges St-Pierre.
“The Natural Born Killer” did his best to try and live up to his moniker, knocking down St-Pierre with a vicious head kick in the third round and constantly attacking with submissions off his back throughout the bout. However, the champ’s wrestling and ground-and-pound skills cinched the unanimous decision victory by simply overwhelming Condit, who’s now forced back to the drawing board.
Despite the loss, I was actually quite impressed with Condit’s performance and believe that he’s closer to another shot at the belt than people might think. As long as he can keep his killer instinct, a few big wins in a row could land him right back into another title bid.
What Condit needs to do is make a statement in his next bout, by either beating another top welterweight or by pulling off a spectacular finish. The last thing that “the Natural Born Killer” wants to happen is to become another floater in the middle of the divisional pack where, unfortunately, most of St-Pierre’s victims tend to stay.
A fight that would really get mixed martial arts fans excited and could help Condit rebound in a big way would be a rematch with former Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz.
Their first battle at UFC 143 for the interim welterweight title was mirred in controversy as the MMA community was virtually split over who they thought won. Condit seemed to land more overall strikes while Diaz landed more power strikes, but its still unclear who truly took this fight.
A rematch would generate a ton of buzz, with a win for Condit cementing his status as possibly a top three welterweight.
Another match-up that should interest the former interim champ would be a rematch with Martin Kampmann. The Dutch striker, who’s coming off a brutal KO loss to Johny Hendricks during Saturday’s co-main event, is actually the last person to defeat Condit prior to GSP.
Condit vs. Kampmann II would be a great battle of top tier strikers that would make for a very entertaining stand-up war. Heavy-handed guys like Josh Koscheck and Thiago Alves would also make for great opponents for Condit.
Regardless of who Condit faces, he needs to come up big in his next fight in order to bounce back from Saturday’s loss and remain relevant to the welterweight title picture.
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