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It turns out that the thumb injury which forced the Robbie Lawler-Carlos Condit middleweight title bout off of UFC 193 isn’t that serious at all.
Trading Places
That’s because the UFC has announced that Lawler vs. Condit will now be the new main event of UFC 195 on January 2nd, 2016. That spot was supposed to be for Ronda Rousey’s next title defense against Holly Holm but when Lawler called in the injury, Rousey’s bout was moved forward to UFC 193 on November 14th to take the place of Lawler-Condit. As is stands now, Lawler and Rousey have traded dates as the UFC continues to put up solid fight cards to finish 2015.
The Ruthless Rules
Lawler is coming off a very grueling 5-round war against Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 last July where he successfully defended his title for the first time since winning it from Johny Hendricks at UFC 181. Lawler is on a four fight winning streak and has not lost since losing to Hendricks in their first encounter at UFC 173. After knocking out Jake Ellenberger at UFC 173, Lawler has gone five rounds three fights in a row two of those fight earning Fight of the Night honors. The most recent one of course was his victory over MacDonald last July where he scored a 5th round TKO despite trailing closely in the judges’ scorecards.
Natural Born Killer
Known as the Natural Born Killer, Carlos Condit will be fighting for a UFC belt for the third time in his career. Condit won the interim UFC welterweight title by beating Nick Diaz at UFC 143 but lost to long-time champion Georges St. Pierre in a unification bout later that year. Condit is also a former WEC welterweight champion who defended the title thrice before moving to the UFC. He is 2-3 in his last three bouts but his losses were from top tier competition in St. Pierre, Hendricks and welterweight contender Tyron Woodley. Condit stopped Thiago Alves in his most recent bout last May.
Who Takes This?
A battle of two veteran strikers is what this bout is all about. Like Lawler, Condit is known for his excellent striking and ability to fight under pressure. He is an action style fighter who likes to push the pace and that makes a good striking match-up against the Ruthless One who is regarded as one of the best strikers in the game today and the #8 Pound for Pound best fighter in the Sport. Lawler is currently a slight favorite at minus 145 while Condit a plus 115. Lawler has shown tremendous improvement and patience in his resurgence but Condit’s championship pedigree and experience cannot be counted out. This looks to be a barn burner of a fight and a big way for the UFC to open 2016.
*photo credit – mmajunkie.com
