An exciting welterweight title fight between current champion Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit has been booked as the headline attraction at UFC 193 which takes place in Melbourne, Australia on November 15th.
Lawler has been one of the big success stories in the UFC over the past few years since returning to the promotion that first made him a star in 2013 after an 8 year absence that had seen him compete for a number of other promotions including PRIDE, Strikeforce and Elite XC.
While Lawler has always been something of a fan favorite and feared for his knockout power, nobody was expecting a big impact from him when he came back to the Octagon as his form had been patchy to say the least, producing just a 3-5 record during a three year run with Strikeforce.
However, the move back to the UFC seemed to reinvigorate him, as did making the decision to drop down to the welterweight division.
Since then he’s produced the best run of form in his career, producing a 7-1 record, avenging his only loss during that period against Johny Hendricks to become the welterweight champion, and most recently successfully defending his belt against Rory MacDonald via a fifth round TKO stoppage.
Now his next challenge comes in the shape of Condit, the current No.4 contender at 170lbs who former champion Georges St.Pierre recently described as the most dangerous fighter in the division.
Condit’s recent form might suggest otherwise as he’s won just two of his last five fights, though in fairness his last defeat against current No.3 Tyron Woodley was due to an accidental knee injury and the other two losses were to the aforentioned GSP and former champ Hendricks.
After returning from a lengthy absence following that knee injury Condit picked up a TKO stoppage against Thiago Alves and now he gets a golden opportunity to fight for the title due to the fact that two of the other top contenders above him have already fought and lost to the champion recently.
Spare a thought for Woodley who’s been overlooked in all this, but it’s clear to see why the UFC opted for this particular match-up as stylistically it looks almost certain to be a barnburner.
