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 defea…
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.
UFC 195 plays host to one of the welterweight matchups in welterweight history.
UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler (26-10, 1 NC) defends his crown against No. 4-ranked contender Carlos Condit (30-8).
Lawler defended his title for the first time at…
UFC 195 plays host to one of the welterweight matchups in welterweight history.
UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler (26-10, 1 NC) defends his crown against No. 4-ranked contender Carlos Condit (30-8).
Lawler defended his title for the first time at UFC 189 in an instant classic against Rory MacDonald. After years of chasing gold, he now sits atop the division trying to hold off the sharks circling around him. Condit will have his second chance at the undisputed belt when he steps into the cage on Saturday.
This is a perfect fight for fans. Both men are elite fighters who have an aggressive style of refusing to back down. It is as close to a guarantee of fireworks as the UFC could possible provide.
The question is—who has the edge?
The two longtime veterans are evenly matched, but there are some key differences that will come into play in the main event on Saturday. Let’s break it down and see which 170-pound fighter will walk out of Las Vegas as the champion.
MMA isn’t kind to its aging practitioners. Fighters who finds themselves on the wrong side of the aging curve are only a short punch or kick away from staring up at the rafters with a cage-side doctor’s flashlight shining in their faces.
Whether it’s C…
MMA isn’t kind to its aging practitioners. Fighters who finds themselves on the wrong side of the aging curve are only a short punch or kick away from staring up at the rafters with a cage-side doctor’s flashlight shining in their faces.
Whether it’s Chuck Liddell’s chin crumbling under the assault of Rashad Evans, Shogun Rua and Rich Franklin, or Anderson Silva’s body failing him twice against Chris Weidman, it couldn’t possibly be clearer that this sport has no margin for error as fighters lose a step.
That never-ending slide toward increasing danger and finally irrelevance is part of what makes UFC 195‘s ultra-violent title matchup between Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit on January 2 so compelling.
At ages and levels of experience when most of their contemporaries have fallen off their peak form, Lawler and Condit aren’t just holding steady; they’re actively getting better in every phase of the game and putting their experience to good use in and out of the cage.
The champion has 37 fights under his belt in more than 14 years as a professional, and he turned 33 this year. Condit is 31, is a veteran of 38 bouts and just passed 13 years in professional MMA. Neither had an easy journey to the top: Lawler traded wins and losses in Icon Sport, Pride, EliteXC and Strikeforce for most of a decade after the UFC cut him, while Condit needed nearly seven years and 27 fights to get to the world’s biggest stage.
At this point, both fighters possess an air of self-awareness and confidence that only experience can provide. They’ve seen it all, done it all and heard every last hackneyed question about motivation and training and how this camp will be different from the last. Neither has time for that kind of promotional nonsense, and they can be understandably testy with questions they deem unworthy of their time.
“I don’t really pay much attention to that kind of stuff, who’s getting the next this or that,” said Lawler.
And that, in essence, is the charm of this fight. Neither man is much of a talker, but they’re both perfectly aware of the violence they bring with them into the cage, and that’s the selling point. “
“I’ve just got to be myself,” said Condit, and Lawler expressed the same sentiment.
Why bother with the bull if it’s not a real expression of personality? Condit and Lawler have made their names through sweat, blood and the generous, aesthetically pleasing application of their violent art, not by stringing together a few clever phrases and banking on charisma.
Condit makes no bones about it.
“I was impressed and I was entertained [by Lawler-MacDonald],” he said. “Fights like that, when I’ve been in those really gritty wars, that’s what I live for. The true fighters in this sport, we live for that stuff.”
To hear Lawler tell it, one of the best fights in UFC history was little more than a day at the office—a hard one, to be sure, but just a good day’s work, and an enjoyable one.
That is a genuine sentiment from both men. It’s easy to pay lip service to the idea of a knockdown, drag-out brawl or to claim that one wants nothing more than to go to war. Lawler and Condit have proved, time and again, that they’re perfectly able and content to drop bombs and wade through blood.
The particularly striking thing about the way Lawler and Condit discuss that kind of uber-violent fight is that they never frame it in terms of what fans or the promoters want to see. Conor McGregor, for example, promotes his fights in terms of putting on a show and getting the finish, and he has openly stated on several occasions that he wants his style to be exciting because that’s what both the audience and the UFC want.
For Lawler and Condit, that’s not the case. Putting on bloody, violent wars is simply a reflection of who they are, not a concession to the needs or desires of the crowd. If the audience happens to enjoy that, and it obviously does, then so much the better. Being fan favorites is a mere byproduct of their natural inclinations.
Both men know this and know themselves. There are no mysteries left at this stage of their careers: Condit and Lawler are dialed in. When asked whether they were affected by having to train hard and cut weight over the winter holidays, neither expressed even the slightest concern.
“I don’t gorge myself,” said Lawler.
Condit answered, “I’m gonna do what I was gonna do anyway.”
Their weight cuts have become less troublesome. “The more I do it, the easier it gets. Obviously the last two pounds aren’t fun, but I’m good with it,” Lawler said, and Condit echoed that he’s honed his method and protocol over many iterations.
This separates Lawler and Condit from many of their veteran peers. The 36-year-old Urijah Faber, for example, has spoken about the strain the cut to 135 pounds put on his body and his preference for fighting at featherweight if possible. Dan Henderson has recently gone back down to 185 pounds after a long stretch at light heavyweight, where he didn’t have to cut down.
Other veterans struggle to stay abreast of a constantly evolving sport, but Lawler and Condit explicitly embrace change.
“I’m a student of the game,” Lawler said. “I’m always trying to get better. Once your skills are sharpened, then you want to add new wrinkles. This is MMA: If you’re not evolving and getting better, you’re not gonna be around long.
Condit feels the same way: “Just because a musician writes a great album doesn’t mean they don’t want to continue to write great music. For me, this is a creative outlet. Sometimes, we’re trying to put together the same notes or the same techniques into different combinations to solve different problems.”
They’re smart, cerebral fighters, and these aren’t just nice sentiments: Both have made serious, demonstrable changes to their repertoires in the last several years.
Lawler’s game has improved dramatically since his return to the UFC, with some of the best defensive wrestling the sport has ever seen and a higher-output and more diverse striking game. His command of the intangibles of striking, such as rhythm and shot placement, is self-conscious and extraordinary.
Condit’s evolution has been subtler. His footwork and movement are better, his angles have improved, he’s sharper as a counterpuncher, and his relentlessly creative and unorthodox approach has become even more effective, as with the upward elbow that finished Thiago Alves last May. That perfectly placed shot took advantage of Alves’ tendency to lean to the right and showcases the thoroughness of Condit’s preparation.
UFC 195’s headliners fit neatly into a broader trend in the sport. Many veterans these days seem to be finding their peak form well into their 30s after more than a decade in the sport. Rafael dos Anjos ran through the stacked lightweight division as a 10-year veteran at the age of 30 to dominate Anthony Pettis and take the title, while Fabricio Werdum was 37 when he claimed the heavyweight strap.
Werdum, Dos Anjos, Condit and Lawler aren’t outliers. Faber is still one of the best bantamweights in the world at 36 and after 12 years of professional experience. Michael Bisping is better than ever at 36 and 11 years as a pro. Demian Maia has a decade under his belt and has gone 6-2 in the same stacked division as Lawler and Condit.
The list goes on, but the point is clear: Healthy living and smart training can extend a fighter’s prime years. Lawler and Condit are both uncommonly durable—they’ve suffered one clean knockout and one injury TKO between them in a combined 74 fights—but both have explicitly embraced a more measured approach to training.
“I listen to my body,” said Condit. “A lot of my strength and conditioning is geared around keeping me together…so it doesn’t spiral out of control to the point where we have to pull out of a fight.”
That’s the attitude of someone who knows just how thin the margin of error is when the wear and tear of more than a decade hangs on his shoulders every time he goes into the gym.
The thumb injury that forced Lawler out of the initially scheduled bout with Condit at UFC 193, for example, was actually a re-injury. He first hurt it about a decade ago, and it popped again during a wrestling practice.
Lawler’s understated verdict? “It’s a weird-looking thumb.”
When you’ve been around MMA for as long as Lawler and Condit have, you’re going to have a few distinctively mangled body parts.
Father Time waits for no fighter, and the aging process in combat sports is rarely pretty. At least for now, however, Lawler and Condit are holding strong and benefiting from their nearly 30 years of combined experience.
Almost three years have passed since a unanimous-decision defeat to Georges St-Pierre started the worst run of results in Carlos Condit’s career, but the welterweight contender hopes to one day get his chance at vengeance.
Now preparing for anot…
Almost three years have passed since a unanimous-decision defeat to Georges St-Pierre started the worst run of results in Carlos Condit’s career, but the welterweight contender hopes to one day get his chance at vengeance.
Now preparing for another shot at Robbie Lawler’s welterweight title at UFC 195, Condit is hoping GSP will make his way back to the Octagon after two years of retirement, telling Fox Sports’ Heidi Fang the Canadian is assuredly in his sights:
I’ve had the honor of stepping in the Octagon with Georges before and I would love to again, especially because of the fact that he beat me. I have a loss to him and I want to avenge it. I want to avenge my losses. I want to avenge as many losses as I can. I’ve already avenged two in my career and I still have a couple more to go. Avenging a loss to GSP, it’s definitely on my radar.
A long list of variables lie in the way of that bout coming to fruition, but St-Pierre’s coach, Firas Zahabi, recently teased a comeback, telling The MMA Hour host Ariel Helwani his disciple’s fighting “itch hasn’t gone” (via Chuck Mindenhall of MMAFighting.com).
Of course, it wouldn’t hurt Condit’s case for another meeting with St-Pierre were he to defeat Lawler and claim the welterweight belt in January, the title GSP retired with in 2013 following UFC 167.
As mentioned by Fang, Tyron Woodley is the man currently next in line to have a shot at the welterweight crown, but a comeback from the 34-year-old St-Pierre would make for a major stir at the peak of the class.
Tension was at a high in Las Vegas on Thursday as Lawler and Condit met face-to-face for the media day release building up toward the January date:
Condit will be Lawler’s first matchup since the historic slugfest that was UFC 189, where Lawler stopped Rory MacDonald in what may go down as one of the best mixed-martial arts bouts ever; however, Condit says he’s looking to avoid that kind of battle, per Fang: “Fights like that, they change you. It’s an ordeal. I think some guys are able to take more damage, some guys are more resilient than others. The object is to hit the other guy and not get hit. I think the least amount of damage you can take is the best route.”
The St-Pierre battle was the last time The Natural Born Killer was forced to go the distance, winning two and losing two in the wake of that UFC 154 loss.
Lawler, on the other hand, has gone to the fifth round in each of his last three matches, claiming two of those by decision and of course ending MacDonald back in July.
Condit may be a challenge for Lawler, however, in that his record of 28 finishes in 30 wins suggests a much more clinical approach than anything MacDonald could have mustered.
These two were delayed from facing off at UFC 193 next month, but the anticipation is once again building toward what should be an epic clash between two of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s toughest figures.
Summer is winding down, which means we’re in the latter stages of 2015. It also means football season is finally here. But do you know what else it means? There’s still a whole slew of mixed martial arts fights that we have to look forward to, so with that in mind, here are the top 10 fights that you, Potato Nation, should check out or – at the very least – set your DVR to as we wind down the year:
Summer is winding down, which means we’re in the latter stages of 2015. It also means football season is finally here. But do you know what else it means? There’s still a whole slew of mixed martial arts fights that we have to look forward to, so with that in mind, here are the top 10 fights that you, Potato Nation, should check out or – at the very least – set your DVR to as we wind down the year:
(Countdown to UFC 191: Andrei Arlovski vs Frank Mir, via the UFC.)
Both of these guys are in the midst of a career resurgence – and probably the second or third such resurgence for Mir. Both are also riding multiple-fight win streaks, and the winner of this fight has to be considered the top contender in UFC’s heavyweight division. But given what we’ve seen lately with title shots in the UFC, who knows?
(Highlights from Dantas vs. Galvao 1, via Bellator.)
Galvao memorably made Joe Warren scream in pain at Bellator 135 earlier this year, securing the bantamweight title in the process. Dantas succumbed to Warren in a previous title fight, but secured another shot after besting Mike Richman at Bellator 137. Oh yeah, Dantas also happens to hold a vicious knockout victory over, you guessed it, Marcos Galvao. Both of these guys can finish their opponent by either knockout or submission, so don’t expect this fight to go to a decision.
Freire has been a thorn in Straus’ side, already getting the better of him on two separate occasions. Besides his losses to Freire, Straus has been on an absolute tear in Bellator, winning all but one fight. Straus is chomping at the bit for redemption against Freire, and I expect this fight to be teeming with animosity and fireworks.
7. David Branch vs. Teddy Holder (World Series of Fighting 23 – Sept. 18)
(Holder vs. Thiago Silva, WSOF 19.)
Holder emphatically made his presence known in WSOF, stepping in as a last-minute replacement against Thiago Silva and needing all but two minutes to knockout Silva in both men’s organizational debut. Knocking out a dangerous (literally) fighter like Silva in two minutes? I’d say that warrants a title shot. Holder and Branch are squaring off for WSOF’s inaugual light heavyweight title, with Branch boasting an undefeated record in WSOF and getting the best of fighters like Paulo Filho and Yushin Okami. Both guys like to stand and bang, so I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this fight probably won’t go the distance.
Putting this fight here is more or less a sentimental pick, given the stature of the two guys involved. Hendo showed the world he’s not quite finished yet by brutally knocking out Tim Boetsch in the first round earlier this summer. Belfort was demolished by UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman in his last fight, but had a highlight-reel knockout of Hendo in their previous meeting. These guys are surefire hall of famers and at the latter end of their careers, so you want to catch them while you can. Especially when they’re facing each other.
5. Bellator: Dynamite (Sept. 19)
This is an entire card you should check out, not just one fight. Bellator is partnering with GLORY kickboxing to put on a joint card on the same night. The arena will house both the Bellator cage and GLORY’s kickboxing ring, right next to each other. Simply put, this is a combat sports fan’s wet dream. The Bellator portion of the card will feature a light heavyweight tournament with fighters like Phil Davis and Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal. Liam McGeary will defend his light heavyweight title against Tito Ortiz, and Bellator’s Paul Daley will actually compete in a GLORY kickboxing match against Fernando Gonzalez. If you love combat sports, you do not want to miss this event.
4. Justin Gaethje vs. Luis Palomino II (World Series of Fighting 23 – Sept. 18)
(Gaethje vs Palomino 1 highlights, via Youtube)
These two engaged in an absolute war earlier this year. They traded bomb after bomb after bomb and pummeled each other mercilessly. Gaethje scored a third-round TKO victory, but Palomino’s tremendous heart and aggression against Gaethje secured him another chance at the gold. Their first meeting has been one of the less-heralded fights of 2015. But after this sequel, both of these guys should be household names.
These two are probably the two best middleweight fighters in the world right now. They’ve been circling each other for a while now and after Weidman’s demolition of Belfort and Rockhold running through Lyoto Machida in their previous bouts, the time is now for Weidman and Rockhold to go toe-to-toe for UFC’s middleweight title. These guys are sharing the UFC 194 with Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor. While that fight will likely get the lion’s share of the promotion, Weidman/Rockhold has all the making of a classic. Neither man gives an inch and will bring everything they have to the table. This will be a terrific fight to watch.
It may have suffered a slight setback thanks to an unfortunate thumb injury, but simply put, if you like violence, you will enjoy this fight. Both Lawler and Condit enjoy rearranging their opponent’s faces – Lawler with Rory MacDonald, and Condit with Thiago Alves. Expect nothing less than a brutal, bloody, punishing affair with this one. There will be no strategy, no gameplan. If any fight encompasses the saying “Two men enter, one man leaves,” it’s this one. Just sit back, relax and enjoy violence in its purest form with this one.
(Aldo vs. McGregor promo, once again via BrattMamley)
The fight EVERYONE’S talked about. This was supposed to happen at UFC 189 in July, and even had a world tour to go with it. Unfortunately, Aldo had to pull out right before the fight with an injury. McGregor defeated Chad Mendes for the interim featherweight title, and will now face Aldo to determine UFC’s true featherweight champion. The hype surrounding this fight will be off the charts, and it will be almost a full calendar year before the anticipation for this fight really kicked into gear. Aldo and McGregor are the two best featherweights in the world. It is long past time for these two to square off, and it can’t come at a better time than just before the holidays. Merry Christmas to all of us.
Chris Huntemann writes about mixed martial arts in the state of Maryland. He also opines on various topics within UFC, Bellator and World Series of Fighting. Check out his blog, and follow him on Twitter: @mmamaryland.
Carlos Condit has been back in action for all of two months and is already shaping up as one of the welterweight division’s biggest wild cards.
Prior to his comeback victory over Thiago Alves in May, it had been more than a year since we’d …
Carlos Condit has been back in action for all of two months and is already shaping up as one of the welterweight division’s biggest wild cards.
Prior to his comeback victory over ThiagoAlves in May, it had been more than a year since we’d seen Condit inside the Octagon. The former UFC 170-pound interim champion missed significant time—and a few major divisional plot twists—as he rehabbed a knee injury suffered during a loss to TyronWoodley.
Now, one second-round, technical-knockout victory later, here he is: No. 1 contender all over again.
The UFC went a bit outside the box on Wednesday, as it confirmed an earlier report by Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter that Condit will be next up for welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. According to UFC Tonight‘s Ariel Helwani (h/t MMAFighting.com), the two are set to headline UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia on November 14.
Despite the extended time off, Condit began the week at No. 4 on the UFC’s official welterweight rankings, so it’s not as though this booking is a huge stretch—but it’s also not exactly what we were expecting.
With Lawler coming off an impressive fifth-round TKO of Rory MacDonald at UFC 189, it was largely anticipated he’d fulfill his trilogy with former champion and No. 1-ranked challenger Johny Hendricks. Hendricks’ win over Matt Brown at UFC 185 in March kept his stock sky-high, and his first two bouts with Lawler were crowd-pleasing slugfests.
If not Hendricks, it seemed like an outside possibility that Woodley would get the call. The former University of Missouri wrestler is ranked ahead of Condit at No. 3 and is currently riding the wave of back-to-back wins over Dong Hyun Kim and Kelvin Gastelum.
All things considered, choosing Condit constitutes a bit of a swerve.
The two higher-ranked fighters didn‘t take it that well, either.
Woodley vented on Twitter:
Hendricks said his piece during a recent appearance on MMAjunkie Radio (h/t MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn):
I am pissed. You fight and you do the right things and then you get jumped. What do I need to do to stay relevant? What do I need to do to get back to that title? You’re sitting there and you’re going through all these things. Don’t get me wrong, I am still mad, but again, what can I do? The only thing I can do is go out there and train hard and get another win … you just start beating everybody then next thing you know, there’s going to be nobody left but me.
Here’s something that may or may not ease their minds: On the same day when the UFC confirmed Condit vs. Lawler, it also announced that Woodley and Hendricks will fight each other at UFC 192 in Houston on October 3.
So, to recap: No. 1 and No. 3 will face off in a certain title eliminator, while No. 4 gets the immediate title shot.
Not going to lie—that’s kind of weird.
Even weirder? Nobody (besides T-Wood and BiggRigg) is complaining.
Condit vs. Lawler is as close to a surefire barnburner as you can get in this most unpredictable sport. Both men are all-action, strike-first fighters renowned for their technical savvy and viciousness. Putting them in the cage together is as good as twisting the fuses on two sticks of dynamite.
As noted by Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden, it’s also not totally outside the realm of possibility that Condit might win the thing:
Aside from his obvious stylistic synergy with Lawler, it’s anyone’s best guess why matchmakers chose to tab Condit over Hendricks or Woodley.
Condit’s victory over Alves—his first since the summer of 2013—was impressive, but it was instructive primarily in declaring the end of the 31-year-old Brazilian’s run as a legitimate welterweight contender.
Alves rolled into the fight fresh from a come-from-behind win over Jordan Mein, but prior to that, he’d also been out of action for an extended period because of injury. The truth was he’d been just 4-4 in his last eight appearances before the Condit bout. After it, he announced he’ll drop to lightweight.
The “W” made Condit just 2-3 since November 2012, when he lost his interim title to the returning Georges St-Pierre. His other defeats during that stretch are to Woodley and Hendricks. Quality losses to be sure, but any way you look at it, they cast him as an odd choice to leapfrog those two men in the pecking order.
Perhaps matchmakers are just trying to toss a fresh log on the fire.
Since St-Pierre vacated the belt and eased into semi-retirement at the end of 2013, Lawler and Hendricks have had a stranglehold on the welterweight title picture. Their third fight was expected to be another great one, but might’ve also made the top end of the 170-pound division feel a tad insular.
For whatever reason, company executives have also never seemed totally sold on Woodley.
After his unanimous-decision loss to MacDonald at UFC 174, Dana White proclaimed that Woodley “chokes in big fights,” via MMAFighting.com’s Dave Doyle. Two months later, the UFC President asserted that Woodley wanted “no part” of a bout with fellow contender Hector Lombard, also according to Doyle.
So, if UFC brass didn’t exactly feel a burning itch to book Lawler-Hendricks III and thought Woodley still needed to prove himself, perhaps Condit appeared the best option moving forward.
MMA fans? We’ll take it. Gladly.
One of the greatest things about Lawler’s title reign, after all, is that he makes an exciting match with almost anyone in the top 10. The one thing everyone can agree on is that he and Condit are going to put on a show.
