UFC 154: 'St Pierre vs Condit'

[wandshogun09]

 

PPV MAIN CARD (ESPN - 3am UK)

Georges St Pierre vs Carlos Condit - UFC Welterweight Title Unification

Martin Kampmann vs Johny Hendricks

Tom Lawlor vs Francis Carmont

Constantinos Philippou vs Nick Ring

Mark Hominick vs Pablo Garza

 

FX PRELIMS (ESPN - 1am UK)

Patrick Cote vs Alessio Sakara

Cyrille Diabate vs Chad Griggs

Sam Stout vs John Makdessi

Rafael Dos Anjos vs Mark Bocek

 

FACEBOOK PRELIMS

Antonio Carvalho vs Rodrigo Damm

Ivan Menjivar vs Azamat Gashimov

Darren Elkins vs Steven Siler

Matt Riddle vs John Maguire

 

This one has sneaked up on us and is now just a little over 3 weeks away. It's been a bumpy ride getting to St Pierre vs Condit and the Welterweight division has been stuck in limbo for what seems like an eternity now. So this will finally put the 170lb class back in order.

 

How did we get to this? It goes all the way back 12 months when this fight was scheduled last October...

 

 

But Diaz no-showed the press conference and Dana wasn't pleased

 

They tried to get a hold of Diaz but the results were fruitless

 

So Dana put in a call to Carlos Condit and got the event saved

 

But then GSP went and cocked up his knee

 

Third time lucky UFC 137 did eventually go ahead

 

Nick Diaz made beetroot out of BJ Penn's face

 

and then had a few choice words for GSP who was ringside

 

Needless to say

 

The fight was booked for UFC 143 in Feb 2012

 

But GSP fucked his knee up some more resulting in this fight being made

 

...for the UFC interim Welterweight title while GSP healed up.

 

The fight had a bit of this

 

A bit of this

 

And a shitload of this

 

And after 5 close rounds Condit walked away with the title

 

Diaz said "Fuck you and your baby leg kicks"

 

The message board mouth breathers said...

 

"Condit ran"

 

And Diaz...

 

Well, he smoked himself into a 12 month suspension.

 

GSP is back and we have this fight

 

Co-main event features everyone's favourite Great Dane..

 

Martin Kampmann

 

vs

 

Jon Fitch slayer

 

Which apparently made him a Joe Silva favourite

 

Johny Hendricks

 

We've also got

 

No, sorry...Mark Hominick

 

vs

 

Pablo Garza

 

And we have an undercard with fuckers who can do this

 

And this

 

And even this...

 

And if all that's not enough...

 

 

'Filthy' Tom Lawlor is on the card!

 

And before you ask, yes he does have shit on the market...

 

Yes he does rip it off like Hulk

 

And yes he can actually fight

 

UFC 154 then.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Damn Wand, you nail these MMA event threads. Just with that one post, you sold me on a card that I've really been viewing as a one-fight show. Looking past the lack of quote-unquote names here, we have some serious warriors on this card. Really keen to see Francis Karmont again, the guy impressed the hell out of me the way he beat Vemola. Hoping Kampmann beats Bearded Johnny, I loved him for KOing Fitch, but outside of that I haven't enjoyed him that much, the Koscheck fight was fairly dull.

 

Jolly good show, kinda looking forward to this now. Can't see past a GSP decision. Condit's never been the world's greatest wrestler, and even though GSP has talked about wanting to look for finishes now and all that, I'm pretty sure he's been saying that for the past few years before his injury anyway. But then again, the big intangible is that knee. Can GSP explode into takedowns like he used to? If he can't, then Condit could definitely have a legitimate opportunity.

[The Natural]

And this

 

I was concerned for Edwards with the punch and how he landed. A bad KO that one.

 

Nice opening post to an MMA thread as usual wandshogun09. For me it's a two fight show, the main and co-main event. I'm first to vote in the polls, I've gone with GSP by decision and Kampmann by decision. With the talk of GSP vs. Anderson Silva building up providing GSP beats Condit, Condit won't be popular if he stops that happening. Must win for Mark Hominick.

[David]

I'm taking Condit to stop St-Pierre in this fight. I don't think GSP will be close to being as good as he's been in the past. That injury he got is one that would have forced a lot of top level athletes out of their sport, so I don't think there's any chance he'll be 100% back to what he was.

 

It's a shame as well, because if he loses this it takes a bit of the shine off any possible match with Diaz or Anderson.

[Egg Shen]

its all down to GSP's layoff. If he'd fought Condit before layoff and healthy id pick GSP 10 times out of 10, but now there's doubt...having said that, i think GSP is that smart an athlete that he wouldn't be coming back anything other than being very close to 100%. i'll have GSP by clinical stoppage via strikes, but slight doubt makes it intriguing.

[Dead Mike]

I pick GSP for this, like Anderson I just can't bring myself to back anyone else against him. He'll take Condit into the championship rounds & beat him with his conditioning. Either TKO in the 5th or by decision.

[METAL ON METAL]

The first casualty - Stephen Thompson has knacked his knee in and is out of his fight. No replacement yet.

[wandshogun09]

The first casualty - Stephen Thompson has knacked his knee in and is out of his fight. No replacement yet.

 

So I make the UFC 154 thread and the same day there's a pullout for an injury? I hope I'm not a curse.

 

Shame about Thompson, I was looking forward to seeing how he'd bounce back from his first loss. Bollox.

 

 

David

I'm taking Condit to stop St-Pierre in this fight. I don't think GSP will be close to being as good as he's been in the past. That injury he got is one that would have forced a lot of top level athletes out of their sport, so I don't think there's any chance he'll be 100% back to what he was.

 

It's a shame as well, because if he loses this it takes a bit of the shine off any possible match with Diaz or Anderson.

 

Well fuck me, I thought I'd be the only one picking Condit

 

I'm a bit weary though. I've picked a few underdogs this year and been wrong. But my gut feeling ever since the fight was announced was that Condit will catch him.

 

There's the issue of GSP's layoff. The longest layoff of his career and the most serious injury he's had. Also the nature of the injury, it's brutal. And when you look at GSP's style which is all about explosion from the legs with takedowns and even in his striking, it could hamper him there as well.

 

Plus, I just think that GSP doesn't move as well as he did a few years ago. He moves slower and doesn't seem quite as agile to me. He's still a phenomenal athlete but he doesn't seem as dynamic in the fights now like he did 3 or 4 years ago. I don't know if that's signs of him slowing down or if I'm reading too much into it. But if it's true, add a serious knee injury to that and it could spell trouble.

 

Also the fact that Condit is vastly underrated, is a threat everywhere and has no quit in him. It's foolish to count him out in my opinion.

 

Could all be shite and GSP might well go out and do what he always does but I'm predicting the upset here. Sod it. Condit by KO in the 2nd.

 

I wouldn't put money on it though.

[The Natural]

David

I'm taking Condit to stop St-Pierre in this fight. I don't think GSP will be close to being as good as he's been in the past. That injury he got is one that would have forced a lot of top level athletes out of their sport, so I don't think there's any chance he'll be 100% back to what he was.

 

It's a shame as well, because if he loses this it takes a bit of the shine off any possible match with Diaz or Anderson.

 

Well fuck me, I thought I'd be the only one picking Condit

 

I'm a bit weary though. I've picked a few underdogs this year and been wrong. But my gut feeling ever since the fight was announced was that Condit will catch him.

 

There's the issue of GSP's layoff. The longest layoff of his career and the most serious injury he's had. Also the nature of the injury, it's brutal. And when you look at GSP's style which is all about explosion from the legs with takedowns and even in his striking, it could hamper him there as well.

 

Plus, I just think that GSP doesn't move as well as he did a few years ago. He moves slower and doesn't seem quite as agile to me. He's still a phenomenal athlete but he doesn't seem as dynamic in the fights now like he did 3 or 4 years ago. I don't know if that's signs of him slowing down or if I'm reading too much into it. But if it's true, add a serious knee injury to that and it could spell trouble.

 

Also the fact that Condit is vastly underrated, is a threat everywhere and has no quit in him. It's foolish to count him out in my opinion.

 

Could all be shite and GSP might well go out and do what he always does but I'm predicting the upset here. Sod it. Condit by KO in the 2nd.

 

I wouldn't put money on it though.

 

I'm tempted to pick Condit because I picked him to beat Diaz by decision and so he did. Past two fights I picked Condit and he went on to win.

[deathrey]

So far, im not in the least bit fired up for this event. Its probably because im not a GSP fan, I know he's a tremendous athlete and blah, blah, blah, but I find him boring. So for that reason, im going for Condit.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Plus, I just think that GSP doesn't move as well as he did a few years ago. He moves slower and doesn't seem quite as agile to me. He's still a phenomenal athlete but he doesn't seem as dynamic in the fights now like he did 3 or 4 years ago. I don't know if that's signs of him slowing down or if I'm reading too much into it. But if it's true, add a serious knee injury to that and it could spell trouble.

I think the reason GSP has looked slower is that he's changed his body type in recent years. I was watching some old GSP fights the other day and he looked a lot leaner, he's probably put on 10 pounds of muscle mass in the last 3/4 years.

 

Gutted about the Thompson injury. Like you, I wanted to see how he bounced back from the loss to Brown. It's easy to look at that fight and dismiss Wonderboy as a one trick pony, but he showed great heart in trying to fight back even when he seemed lost on the ground. Also, there's a huge gap in experience between those two. Hopefully he's worked on his ground game a lot and can fight early next year.

[wandshogun09]

I agree, I've said the same about GSP possibly putting on too much bulk in recent years.

 

He's also well known to be the type of guy who trains and keeps in shape all year around. Maybe the layoff won't effect him as much as it does some fighters because of that but we'll see. Even just mentally it could fuck with him.

 

I like GSP in that he seems like a nice guy and all that but he's just become a bit too dull for me. The Primetimes for every fight (he even invaded the Diaz/Condit series) and TUF coaching stint have been kind of overkill with me. Add to that his last couple of fights have been 5 round jab-a-thons. He used to be great to watch. If you look at how he went for the kill in the Fitch, 2nd Serra and 3rd Hughes fights it's like a different guy to his last fights with Shields and Koscheck.

 

He's saying he wasn't as mentally into it at that time and let MMA become too much of a job. But I don't know. It doesn't look great that he couldn't tap Dan Hardy in 5 rounds yet Chris Lytle (a man who was retiring) did it in 3.

 

It can go one of two ways. Either he'll come back never the same, actually look beatable and maybe even lose to Condit. Or the layoff will have lit a fire under him again and he'll come back with a renewed energy.

 

Injuries like he had can be a career killer though. Shogun was murdering 205ers until he fucked his knee up the first time before the first Forrest fight. He's never been the same since and had a similar layoff to GSP. Jeff Lacy too, had a serious shoulder injury and it derailed his career, he was never the same.

 

What GSP has on his side is that, unlike Shogun, he's kept himself in top condition all his career. But still, a fucked knee is a fucked knee. It makes this fight very interesting. Especially if you look at Condit's movement and leg kicks. It's harsh but he'd be a fool not to test GSP's knee.

 

Either way, I want Nick Diaz to fight the loser. We either get the Diaz-Condit mess put to bed or Diaz-GSP. Can't lose.

[Cooky]

So far, im not in the least bit fired up for this event. Its probably because im not a GSP fan, I know he's a tremendous athlete and blah, blah, blah, but I find him boring. So for that reason, im going for Condit.

 

Yeh same view here. Looking forward to the sam stout fight on the prelims, he's still underrated in my eyes and will probably put on a fight of the night performance yet again.

[David]

Looking forward to the sam stout fight on the prelims, he's still underrated in my eyes and will probably put on a fight of the night performance yet again.

The very fact that Stout is on the prelims whilst Hominick fights on the PPV segment of the show is ridiculous to be honest.

[jimufctna24]

Yeah this is one mega fight I am not that pumped for. Give me JDS vs Cain 2 or Jones vs Sonnen over it any day.

 

That said I cannot really moan in this climate with injuries, I am getting a mega fight in 2012 it looks like, so even if does not exactly get me excited it will be worth tuning in for.

 

Without being too negative, not much interests me on this show top to bottom. Martin Kampman and Hendricks have never interested me despite being top 10 and the rest of the main card could easily pass as prelims on FX shows.

 

UFC on Fox a month later looks much better.