Carlos Condit more poised for second title shot at UFC 195
Veteran Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Carlos Condit appeared at ease as he played to the crowd during Wednesday’s open media workouts on the casino floor at the MGM Grand in advance of his title bout against champion Robbie Lawler on Saturday.
It’s all part of the plan to have more success in the main event of UFC 195 than he had the first time he challenged for the belt against Georges St. Pierre in 2012.
“I feel good,” Condit said Wednesday. “I’m calm, poised, confident. I’m just ready to fight.”
That might not have been the case against St. Pierre, widely considered one of the best fighters of all time.
“In the GSP fight, I was very hyped up,” Condit said. “It was four years ago. I’ve grown quite a bit since then. I lost my composure a little bit in the lead-up and then during the fight. This time around, I’m just enjoying the process and staying poised. Hopefully it will go my way and I’ll walk away with the title.”
Condit, 31, has been seemingly on the verge of wearing the belt since he entered the organization as the welterweight champ of World Extreme Cagefighting when that division was folded into the UFC.
After losing a controversial split decision to Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut, Condit won five straight fights to take the interim title while St. Pierre was out with injury and set up his first title fight.
It didn’t go as he planned. Though Condit put up a valiant effort and did enough in the bout to earn a fight-of-the-night bonus, he fell short of winning the belt.
Condit has been through more disappointment inside the cage since that fight. He lost a unanimous decision to Johny Hendricks before avenging the defeat to Kampmann with a fourth-round knockout in the rematch.
Then, the Albuquerque, N.M., native tore his anterior cruciate ligament during a fight against Tyron Woodley. Not only did Condit lose because of the injury, he missed more than a year before returning to action with a doctor’s stoppage of Thiago Alves after two rounds in a May bout.
It was enough to convince UFC officials to grant Condit a title shot, despite officially being 2-3 in his past five bouts.
“You know I don’t worry about who they’re putting in front of me,” Lawler said. “Why would I? That’s just nonsense for me to waste my energy. That’s who they put in front of me, and that’s who I got ready for. My coaches do all the breakdowns of my opponents, and I leave that up to them. It doesn’t matter who I’m facing. I’m concentrating on myself.
“(Lawler) is one of the best all-around guys, just like Rory MacDonald was one of the best all-around guys. There’s really high-level guys in the UFC and in my division, so I have to be ready at all times.”
Lawler, 33, is coming off a fifth-round knockout of MacDonald in July. Condit and MacDonald often were seen as heirs apparent to St. Pierre’s belt, but Lawler seized control of the division after St. Pierre decided to walk away from the sport in his prime.
Lawler says there wouldn’t be any significance to beating MacDonald and Condit back-to-back to solidify his title reign. He also said that while Condit bears similarities to MacDonald, the preparation was largely different.
“They’re similar as far as being very tactical, coming from great camps and being well-rounded,” Lawler said. “But even though they’re good everywhere, their techniques are different, their fight stances are different. So there’s definitely some differences.”
Condit said while he incorporated the lessons he learned in his previous championship opportunity, this will be a different experience. For starters, Lawler’s knockout power is a game-changer he didn’t have to worry about when preparing for St. Pierre.
“Georges wasn’t as dangerous necessarily, but he did have this mystique about him,” Condit said. “Robbie not so much, but he’s more dangerous. So I don’t know what’s a bigger challenge.”
He knows this is a chance to validate not only his belief about his ability but also those of fans and analysts who have predicted great things for Condit since he burst onto the scene in WEC in 2007.
“I’m proud of my career up to this point, but I feel like it would cement my legacy as one of the top guys in this sport,” he said.
Condit knows the opportunity is right in front of him. As of Wednesday evening, the fight was listed as a pick ’em at the betting window.
He also knows he is 6-0 in Las Vegas, where he says he loves to fight because of the big crowds and rich combat sports tradition.
Condit even used a local analogy to express how he feels about getting another title shot.
“I’m all in,” he said. “This is my shot right now. I feel like I’ve worked my entire life for this opportunity, and I’m so ready.”
The bout headlines a pay-per-view event that also features a key heavyweight bout between contenders Andrei Arlovski and Stipe Miocic.
— Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj