This Saturday night will see a welterweight title matchup for the ages as champion Robbie Lawler defends his belt against the ultra-violent Carlos Condit at UFC 195.
It’s hard to make the argument that Condit’s recent work earned him the shot. He defeated Thiago Alves, a respectable veteran but hardly an elite opponent, back in May and prior to that he had suffered a devastating knee injury against Tyron Woodley. His last winning streak culminated in a decision over Nick Diaz almost four years ago.
No, this matchup is all about violence. In the absence of a no-brainer top contender, the promise of an all-timer of an action fight between the always-exciting Lawler and the psychotically aggressive Condit was enough to convince the powers that be to forgo a strict view of the rankings and simply make the best possible fight.
This should be a doozy. Lawler has been on an incredible run since his return to the UFC in February 2013, winning seven of his eight fights. All of them have been entertaining, and the champion offers a frightening combination of raw power and striking craft that has rarely appeared in MMA.
Lawler has already accomplished remarkable things in the last three years, but a win over Condit would cement him as a welterweight champion to be remembered—a name to be mentioned in the same breath as Georges St-Pierre and Matt Hughes. For Condit, beating Lawler would finally make him the undisputed king—a title that has eluded him for his entire career.
Considering both fighters’ age—33 for Lawler and 31 for Condit—and 15 and 13 years of professional experience, respectively, the end of their prime years could be coming anytime. This fight offers fans potentially one last shot to see two of the most violent and dangerous fighters in the sport do their thing at an elite level.
The rest of the card offers a mixture of action fights and relevance.
In the co-main event, Stipe Miocic takes on Andrei Arlovski in what is likely to be a top contender matchup at heavyweight. Few would have thought that the venerable Arlovski, who last held a UFC title more than a decade ago, would find himself in position to fight for the belt in 2016.
On the action side, Albert Tumenov takes on Lorenz Larkin in an exceptional matchup of welterweight strikers. Tony Sims and Abel Trujillo open the main card in yet another fight that promises violence, while Diego Brandao and Brian Ortega will match their aggressive natures in a fantastic featherweight clash.
Even the undercard carries substantial interest. Joseph Duffy and Dustin Poirier will finally meet after Duffy’s flash knockout in sparring forced a last-minute cancellation of their scheduled October clash in Dublin. Unusually, this bout will take place on Fight Pass instead of Fox Sports 1 or the pay-per-view main card in an attempt to drive more viewers to the UFC’s proprietary platform.
Let’s take a look at each individual matchup.