If “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit and Thiago “Pitbull” Alves would have clashed about five or six years ago, the bout would have probably been a part of a pay-per-view event. In 2015, with Condit making his comeback from a torn ACL and Alves re-establishing his career after mounds of injuries sidelined him for two years from 2012-14, the two 31-year-old veterans will headline UFC Fight Night 67 on Fox Sports 1 in Alves‘ native Brazil.
Condit injured his knee in his March 2014 bout against Tyron Woodley at UFC 171. After rigorous rehab, Condit is headed back to the Octagon. He promises his return bout with Alves will be “fast-paced and violent” in this interview with MMA Fighting.
Alves has won two fights in a row, having stopped Jordan Mein and won a decision over Seth Baczynski in his most recent bouts. The Pitbull pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat against Mein. Alves was being pummeled by the young and talented Mein, before the latter got careless and was caught with a kick to the body from the rugged Brazilian.
The strike stopped the American in his tracks and gave Alves an improbable victory in a fight he was clearly losing. On Saturday, he’ll be looking to score another explosive win in front of his countrymen.
We don’t know if Condit will show any rust from his long layoff, but assuming he’s the same fighter that has proven to be one of the best welterweights in the world, the Natural Born Killer should win impressively.
Condit‘s game was deeper than Alves‘ before he suffered the injury; according to his interview with UFC.com, Condit has added even more layers to his game.
He’ll avoid Alves‘ aggressive attempts to make the fight a brawl and win by submission in the second round.
The Best of the Rest of the Main Card
Oliveira Will Be Too Much for Lentz
In the co-featured bout, two top-10 featherweights will battle in an important 145-pound scrap.
No. 9-ranked Nik Lentz takes on No. 8-ranked Brazilian Charles Oliveira. Lentz‘s only loss since 2015 came by unanimous decision to perennial contender Chad “Money” Mendes. Aside from Jose Aldo, who has beaten Mendes twice, Lentz is the only fighter to even go the distance with Money since 2012.
As tough as Lentz is, Oliveira is a future superstar.
He took on too much too fast from 2012-13 when he lost back-to-back fights to Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar. Since then, Oliveira has won three straight fights. He’s still just 25 years old, but he looks to be coming into his own. In the biggest win of his career, Oliveira will take a serious step toward earning a title shot.
He’ll out-strike Lentz to take a unanimous decision.
Someone’s Going to Get Stopped
When KJ Noons and Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira meet, it would be a shock if the fight lasts the full three rounds. Noons and Cowboy have 17 KO wins combined in 35 fights.
Both men seem to be comfortable in a brawl but in examining their respective fighting styles, Oliveira looks to be the more technically sound. He also has the better defense. Per FightMetric.com, Noons absorbs an insane 3.83 strikes per minute.
Against a powerful and technical striker like Cowboy, that’s a problematic tendency. In an eye-opening performance, Cowboy will score a second-round TKO over a tough veteran that has only been stopped once in his MMA career.
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