Carlos Condit: Good Enough to Hang with the Big Boys
Carlos Condit may not have won last night, but he did prove one thing: the last World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champ ever crowned is at least good enough to hang with the big boys of the Octagon. At UFC Fight Night 18, the New Mexico native lost to Danish warrior Martin Kampmann via split decision – by a margin as small as a couple takedowns and some time on the bottom – and while Condit ended up with the “L” on his record, really, there’s no shame in the loss at all. He was a big fish in a little pond in the WEC, yet amongst the sharks of the UFC he’s still got a pretty decent bite.
For three rounds Condit went back and forth with Kampmann, trading throws and takedowns and positional dominance at a pace that alternated between “breakneck” and “still pretty active”, and at no time did the submission attempts and escapes or the kicks, punches and elbows by either man peter out. They truly went at it. As fans have seen time and again, success in other promotions doesn’t necessarily translate into success in the Octagon, but Condit took on someone tough (as a UFC fighter, Kampmann has had three wins and one loss at middleweight and a win at welterweight) and got some decent licks in. The WEC champ should fit nicely within the ranks of his new UFC brethren.
Kudos to lightweight speed demon Tyson Griffin, who nearly had his knee disassembled in Round 1 by a crafty calf-crusher submission courtesy of Brazilian ham-and-egger Rafael dos Anjos. But Griffin withstood the hobbling pain to box his way to a win by unanimous decision. Dos Anjos lacked the kickboxing skills to capitalize on Griffin’s injury and lacked the sense to avoid his opponent’s hands – which isn’t to say Griffin isn’t tough. He is, and that toughness kept him in the game and made him victorious when time ran out.
Ryan Bader did fine as TUF winners go, dominating an overmatched Carmelo Marrero for the unanimous decision victory, but at no point did Bader appear challenged. Taking Marrero down practically at will, the wrestling stud went for a number of submissions throughout the bout, never quite nailing any of them (credit Marrero’s American Top Team training partners for that) yet doing more than enough to convince the judges he deserved the nod.
The forces of good and decency prevailed in the Cole Miller/Junie Browning fight, as the ATT representative fed Browning a right hand that forced the TUF 8 vet to shoot – which gave Miller the perfect opportunity to snag his neck for a guillotine. Browning looked dejected after his quick first-round tap out (and Miller’s angry post-fight “Now who’s overrated?” certainly didn’t help lift his spirits). However, for his deplorable antics on TUF, Browning deserves no sympathy.
Browning’s loss may have been satisfying, but the result ultimately made no impact in the 155-pound weight division. Nor did Bader’s win in the light-heavies. Only the outcome of the Condit/Kampmann battle truly made ripples, for although neither man staked much of a claim to Georges St. Pierre’s belt, their performances made the ranks of the welterweights that much deeper.
Though none of the preliminary bouts made it to the SpikeTV broadcast, Zuffa did make a fitting tribute to the fallen Charles Lewis, a.k.a. “Mask” of TapouT, in the form of a video montage. That, coupled with a vacant seat set aside for him cageside, made for a gesture both decent and appropriate, and illustrated to all the impact Mask’s passing has had upon the sport.
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