UFC 154: Georges St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit LowKick.com Staff Predictions

Anton Gurevich: It’s simple (yeah, right). Carlos Condit’s goal is to defend the takedown and keep the fight standing. If GSP fails to put Condit on his back, The Natural Born Killer will be able to do St. Pierre the same thing he did to Nick Diaz – stick and move striking with a laser-sharp accuracy. However, GSP is still a clear favorite in this match-up. He’s extremely well-rounded, and will be ready for any turn of events against Condit. I don’t think we’ll see a new Georges St. Pierre in this fight. The French-Canadian will bring inside the Octagon his trademark gameplan, with takedowns and ground-and-pound. I’ll play it safe and pick GSP to win this fight, but something tells me we’ll see a finish from the champ. GSP via TKO in Round 4.

Bryan Fontez: The less I think about it, the easier it is to say GSP wins easy, but putting more thought into this one is having the complete opposite effect and causing me to seriously doubt whether GSP will be able to bounce back to the same form we’ve seen from him previous. There are many variables in play that make this one of the toughest picks I’ve ever had to make. But at the end of the day, GSP is simply too intelligent to take a fight at anything less than 100%. I say he’s ready and that means a long night of dominance via relentless grinding and takedowns. GSP via Unanimous Decision.

Mike Drahota: The long-awaited return of Georges St-Pierre is a bit of an enigma, in that no one knows what to expect from GSP after a debilitating injury like ACL surgery that resulted in an almost 19-month layoff. It will be interesting to see how much this has affected him, because Carlos Condit may just be one of the toughest opponents he has ever faced. The Welterweight division has been moving rapidly, with many contenders, in GSP’s absence. I would say that even with the injury time off, GSP is good enough athletically to come back and grind out another unanimous decision. But Condit is simply too good, in all aspects of the game. This fight is very intriguing, because anything truly could happen. GSP could come back strong and finish Condit in a blast from the past, or Condit could pull off one of his patented knockouts. This matchup is simply much closer than Silva versus Sonnen or JDS versus Mir, and it has more hype and background than Ben Henderson versus Edgar. I know it’s become cliché, but I have to go with the obvious and pick GSP by decision. If not, we may have a new era at 170 on our hands.