Taking place at the UFC’s home in Las Vegas, Nevada, UFC 143 is the third event in as many weeks, but features what may be the biggest fight of them all. Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz will face off to see who will warm the throne that has belonged to Georges St. Pierre for the better part of five years. With a knee injury pushing the champion to the sideline, the UFC Interim Welterweight Title is now up for grabs for these two elite competitors in the 170-pound weight class.
Picking between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz is a very tough task. Both fighters are so well rounded in many different areas that it’s difficult to tell where one competitor will have a glaring advantage over the other. Both have earned their positions in this fight with recent strings of dominance; Condit has had an impressive run since 2009, defeating Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald, Dan Hardy, and Dong Hyun Kim, while Diaz has gone 11-0 since his defeat to K.J. Noons back in 2007. Impressive records by both make this a matchup that will really determine who deserves to sit on top of the welterweight heap until St. Pierre’s return.
Both Diaz and Condit are true examples of how a complete mixed martial artist comes together. They both display acumen for striking and grappling that give them the ability to win the fight in either area.
Experts may be quick to pick Diaz as the better striker of the two because of the display he put on while dissecting BJ Penn at UFC 137, but Condit also has the ability to strike with anyone that is put in front of him. Their striking styles differ in that Diaz throws in a high volume, peppering his opponent with multiple damaging shots until he becomes so frustrated that the openings grow larger and larger. Condit, on the other hand, has been racking up violent finishes, such as the way he put away Hardy with the left hook, or put the undefeated Kim onto a highlight reel via flying knee. I don’t expect either fighter to shy away from the striking game, and FightMetric will have their work cut out for them to count the number of blows landed.
In my opinion the Cesar Gracie student will have an advantage on the mat. Diaz, along with his brother Nate, has shown a propensity to finish people with limb-wrenching submissions when the time is right. What’s even more apparent is his defensive grappling ability, which helped him escape the bad position he found himself in when he faced Penn last year. Many fighters have been finished by the Jiu Jitsu skills of “The Prodigy,” but Diaz was quickly able to get out and back to his feet. Condit has 13 submission victories to his credit, but outside of Jake Shields who defeated him in 2006, I don’t think he’s faced any fighter with abilities that rival Diaz’s.
As I said, Diaz versus Condit has all the makings of a classic MMA matchup. Neither fighter will shy away from a striking duel in the center of the Octagon. And while both fighters are able to score takedowns and look for submission finishes, I’m expecting both to stand and trade over the course of the fight. Diaz will land the high volume shots, while Condit will look for the one knockout blow he has been known to land. As the third round approaches, the wear and tear from Diaz’s assault will begin to mount, forcing Condit into making bad decisions and mistakes that Diaz will capitalize on. In what will be 25 minutes of exciting action, I’m looking for Diaz to escape some rough patches early on before being able to wear down Condit, and claim the welterweight title by unanimous decision.
UFC 143 is a few days away, but the excitement that has overcome the welterweight division has been mounting since the news of St. Pierre’s injury. At the end of the evening, either Nick Diaz or Carlos Condit will walk out of the Octagon as the new face of a division, and more exciting times will follow when the welterweight king returns to stake his claim to the crown he had to leave behind.
