Condit clarifies waiting for GSP, Hendricks vs Kampmann set for UFC 154
Carlos Condit has been catching flak for a rumor that he was turning down fights and resting on his laurels as UFC interim Welterweight Champion, while waiting for Georges St-Pierre to heal up so he could defend his title.
According to Condit, in an interview with Fuel TV following UFC on FX 3, the only fight that the UFC has offered him has been the bout with St-Pierre to unify the titles: “Georges is the guy I have my eye on and as far as I know he’s going to be ready to go in November. I don’t make the matches. If UFC wanted me to fight somebody else, they’re the boss, they can ask me to fight and I would be up for it. They want me to fight Georges St-Pierre, and that’s who I want to fight as well, so that’s what I’m going to go with.””
St-Pierre is going through physical therapy and rehab following surgery for a torn ACL, if all goes as scheduled he should make hid return to the Octagon by November of this year. St-Pierre has been posting a series of videos of his recovery on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts. Condit saw the videos for himself: “As far as I know, I’ve seen some videos recently of him out running, doing sprints, doing some of his rehab and conditioning, looks good. As far as I know, we’re on for November 17th, and if anything changes then we’ll kind of reconsider our options,”
More confusion arose this past week when Condit was asked about who he would like to fight if St-Pierre isn’t healed by November. Condit said he wanted to fight the only fighter in the UFC that has ever beaten him, Martin Kampmann. On this, Condit said: “The question that was put to me was ‘if Georges isn’t ready to fight in November, who would you like to fight?’ and so my answer to the question was Martin Kampmann. He was my first loss in the UFC, my only loss (in the UFC), my only loss in the last six years or so. Not taking anything away from Johny Hendricks, he’s obviously a top contender, had some great wins recently, but it’s a more compelling fight. It’s a fight I was absolutely be motivated for if Georges isn’t ready.”
In other news about UFC 154, Dana White confirmed that UFC will pair Johny Hendricks with Martin Kampmann on the undercard undercard in support of a Georges St-Pierre vs. Carlos Condit main event. It would be interesting to see if the focus of the entire card falls on the welterweight division much like UFC 146 did with the heavyweights.
