(Vid Props to YouTube/MixedMartialArts)
Last night marked the end of a great run for the Primetime series as it followed the two fighters headlining tonight’s pay per view card. We’ve learned a lot more about Carlos Condit, the wayward youth turned loving father and professional fighter, while playing armchair psychologist to Nick Diaz along the way. The crews shadowing these two 24/7 did the heavy lifting, so we’ll just pop the video up above and make our little jokes after the jump.
Condit’s watching plenty of footage of Nick Diaz, including his post-UFC 137 call-out of champion GSP (“Where you at, Georges? Where you at?”). Although he feels like he’s being overlooked and counted out, Condit takes the high road by not calling Diaz out for ending his sentence in a preposition.
“He tends to be training at weird hours, for sure. When you think about the fight, you can’t get it out of your head and you want to train and you know the other guy’s not doing it, that’s a big mental edge. I love the guy; if he needs help and wants to train at midnight, you know, let’s do this.” Diaz’s training partner Joe Schiling. If only poor Diaz could find some way to unwind?
“I figured that this is the better opponent than any of these other guys that are out there. You fight the way this guy fights and it’s a dangerous fight. I think I’ve gotten a taste of both worlds: guys trying to take your head off and guys trying to hold you, and I think this guy’s definitely more so trying to take your head off.” Diaz, fully expecting this battle to be contested under ‘Stockton Rules‘.
“I don’t really see anything in Carlos Condit’s game that is more dangerous than the things that we’ve been throwing at Nick throughout this training camp. I’ve hit Nick with some really hard shots, shots that I’ve dropped other people with, and not only does it not faze him, but it doesn’t move him back an inch, it doesn’t slow him down, he doesn’t seem to even care about it. He’s a fighter, and there’s not too many guys like Nick Diaz. You can’t stop crazy.” Joe Schiling. Add “getting punched” alongside “drug tests”, “smiling”, and “Ariel Helwani” on the ever-growing list of things Nick Diaz doesn’t care about.
“I would be happy with just going home without any missing teeth.” Diaz, maybe he does care about smiling after all?
“He’s been the underdog all his life, where people wanted to bully him when he was younger. They wanted to portray him as something he’s not. They want to write a script for his life, and that’s not the script that he wants and he’s fighting against that. And I think as fight time approaches all of that starts to merge. It’s a focused rage; it’s not chaotic anger. There’s a focused rage there.” Cesar Gracie, on what could be the greatest MMA movie to date. Get cracking, Hollywood.
“I’ve been the underdog my entire career. People have always counted me out. I don’t pay much mind to that. I’m ready. I’m ready for this shit.” Carlos Condit, trying to out-underdog Diaz. Jesus, people, can’t anyone come in as the favorite anymore?
“I think ol’ boy’s gonna try to take me down. What are his guard passes?” Condit speaking with Greg Jackson, predicting a very un-gangster-like strategy from his opponent.
“Fight week I put on the game face. I just get ready to go do battle. Finally get to go in there and not hold back and just let it go. Really I just tell myself to keep my hands up and my chin down and go out there and bury this mother fucker.” Condit, all but promising to stand and bang. I want to believe they will, but I’ve been fooled too many times before.
Hold up. Diaz missed three flights in one day before finally making it to Vegas for one of the biggest fights of his career? Then he skips the UFC’s prearranged ride to take a cab? I know you’re a busy guy, Nick, but life is not this difficult.
“The exercise is easier [during fight week], but a lot of the other stuff is harder. You know, I’m not used to training to deal with everything that they’re asking of me. I’m not training for that all month, you know, all leading up, I’m just training to fight. A lot of that other stuff is kind of hard for me to deal with, but I am ready to do whatever we gotta to do.” Diaz, who is now officially untrained as a home buyer, travel agent, and conversationalist.
Media week is a stressful time for both men, but particularly Nick Diaz. Though he often comes across as guarded, he’s easily the most open and honest of all fighters. You may not relate to what he’s saying, but you know that he means every word of it.
“That would be crazy to start believing in myself and think, ‘Oh yeah, I’m the biggest part of the show’, and ‘oh happy me’, and ‘everyone loves me’, and ‘I’m the superstar’. That’s crazy. That’s some bullshit right there. That’s the last thing I want to believe. All I’m going to believe is that I’m coming to whoop some ass.” Diaz, keeping it Stockton.
“Who makes these questions up? These questions are bullshit. Seriously? This is not, like, what are these? These are all tricks. This is all like bullshit. I’m low on water, I’m low on calories, I’m low on food, I’m low on energy, and I’m more so than anything low on patience with anything that takes patience. If you ask me something stupid then I’m going to answer it with something stupid and if I hear myself talk something stupid and I’m really pissed off, depressed, and bent out of shape about, then I’m going to throw a fucking really serious fit for no fucking reason.” Diaz, perhaps the toughest man on Earth to threaten throwing a hissy fit.