Following the self-proclaimed ‘biggest win of his career’ Carlos Condit re-iterated his willingness to fight team-mate Georges St Pierre for the welterweight title, drawing the support of UFC President Dana White in the process. The New Mexico native advanced to 26-5 on Saturday night with a stunning first round knockout over Dan Hardy, who had challenged the French-Canadian for the belt in his last fight.
Now on a three-fight win streak in the UFC and with the only loss in his past 12 fights being a split decision to Martin Kampmann, who faces former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields next weekend, Condit is making plans for a title run of his own.
“This is definitely the biggest fight of my career,” he said of the Hardy victory. “Fighting in the co-main and fighting Dan, pretty much in his own backyard, it was the biggest win of my career so far.”
“I’m very confident in my striking and stand up game. I also have a pretty decent ground game, so I’m confident fighting pretty much anybody.”
“I just felt like my timing was on tonight. It just felt very crisp and I was able to walk away with a victory.”
He added: “I’m definitely looking forward to see who wins that fight between Kampmann and Shields. I’ve fought both of those guys and lost decisions to both of them and I’d like to maybe get one of those losses back.”
One potential road block in the way of a Condit v St Pierre is the fact that the two train under coach Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, a notoriously close-knit camp whose fighters in the past have shied away from facing each other. However, Condit insists his association with St Pierre and Jackson would not prevent him agreeing to the bout, which led White to praise his bullish attitude.
He said: “As far as GSP being a team-mate over at Jackson’s, we’ve never really discussed it very much. I think it would be foolish of me to turn down an opportunity like that”
“Finally,” interrupted White, who made reference to Rashad Evans’ previous refusal to take on Jackson’s team-mate Keith Jardine in a UFC 120 video blog earlier this week. “I’m tired of guys that don’t want to fight each other. Just because you’re training you can’t fight each other? It’s not personal.”
“You hear that rarely out of that camp, so it’s good to hear.”
Condit added: “It does pose some problems I guess, but if it happens it happens.”
Meanwhile, beaten opponent Hardy said he cannot wait to see the end of 2010 following a second consecutive defeat.
After returning from the hospital, where he was released without concern, the Team Rough House ace admitted the better man won, but said the support of the boisterous post-fight English crowd slightly soothed his pain.
“I’m going to have to go back and watch the fight,” said Hardy. “I remember parts of it. I also remember my coach having a word with me in the ambulance on the way to the hospital telling me I wasn’t putting my combinations together and stuff like that.”
“I got caught, that’s why it’s a sport. It was a good punch.”
“It’s always nice to have that support. There’s a small minority that have always got something negative to say regardless of what happens, but to have 16,000 fans and that support, it makes a big difference.”
“Losing, in my opinion, is the worst feeling in the world,” Hardy continued. “I’m sure over the rest of my life I’ll come across worse things, but it’s right up there with the worst and it (the crowd support) softens the blow a little bit.”
He added: “It’s a learning curve. 2010 wasn’t my year. I’ve had two losses this year and I’ve only ever had two back-to-back losses once. I’ll get back on the horse and keep pushing forward. I’ll be back.”
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