Reports of George St-Pierre’s knee injury has rocked the MMA world today. Only 11 days out from his scheduled title defense against Carlos Condit at UFC 137, GSP has been forced to pull out of the fight due to a knee injury.
Always up for a chance to make money, Josh Koscheck offered to step up and replace GSP against Condit. This was quickly shot down by Dana White, who said, “Condit will wait for GSP.”
Does anyone learn from other’s mistakes?
Condit waiting for GSP could be very damaging to his career. I call it “The Rashad Evans effect.”
Evans earned his title shot but chose to sit on the sidelines while Mauricio “Shogun” Rua healed from surgery. Citing a need to “protect his brand”, Evans would eventually be injured himself, and teammate Jon Jones stepped up to take the title shot.
Condit could see this story play out for his career as well. There’s no guarantee when GSP will be back, but even if everything falls into place and the fight is back on soon, a number of variables could prevent Condit from getting his title shot.
While Condit sits idly by, other welterweights will be solidifying their own claims to a title shot.
He doesn’t have a “brand” to protect, and many fight fans feel he hasn’t even earned his title shot.
Condit has strung together four straight victories, but wins over Dong Hyun Kim, Dan Hardy, Rory McDonald and a split decision over Jake Ellenberger aren’t exactly the quality wins you look for on a title-challenger’s resume.
Many casual UFC fans couldn’t pick Condit out of a line up, something “The Natural Born Killer” could work on.
Taking a fight before GSP comes back would allow Condit not only to make some money, but also solidify himself as a legit title challenger. There’s a number of fights available to him such as Josh Koscheck or a rematch with Jake Ellenberger, which would cement Condit’s place among the UFC welterweight elite.
If Condit does wait this out, there’s no guarantee the fight will take place quickly. St-Pierre has spread his fights across long spans of time and there’s no guarantee he will rush (no pun intended) back from injury to take the fight.
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