On Saturday night the Ultimate Fighting Championship will crown a new welterweight champion for the first time in over three years…kind of. With the current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, arguably the second best fighter in the world, injured and would presumably not be able to defend his crown for more than a year, the UFC had to fill that void with an interim title bout between the division’s top two fighters. Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit will try and stop the four-year and 11 fight win streak of Stockton’s own Nick Diaz during the main event in Las Vegas at UFC 143.

This is a very exciting match-up between the UFC’s 170-pound division elite. Condit is the owner of a four-fight win streak and the winner of 12 out of his last 13 MMA bouts. His only lost during that time was a split decision loss to Martian Kampmann back in April of 2009. Any ‘split decision’ can be debated for hours on why someone won or lost. I almost consider split decisions the same as a draw in MMA, almost. These match-ups in the UFC are so equal sometimes that it becomes very hard to score. Condit is also on a roll regarding the nightly bonuses given out by the top UFC brass. He has picked up two Knockout Of The Night in his last two fights against Dong Hyun Kim and Dan Hardy. Before that he won a Fight Of The Night bonus for his victory over Roy McDonald in June of 2010. Condit is a very well rounded fighter. He has racked up 27 wins in his MMA career and 13 are by T/KO and another 13 by submission with one decision victory. His striking technics are thrown with a singular focus, which is to end the fight. Do not forget that he will have Greg Jackson in his corner who just had Donald Cerrone fight Nick’s brother Nate last month. Jackson has been thinking about the Diaz brothers for several months straight now, and they know how to game plan. However, Cerrone did lose to Nate in that lightweight bout.

Nick Diaz is a very unique person in general and stands out even more when placed in the Octagon for his brash attitude and high-level MMA skills. Winner of his last 11 MMA bouts including his destruction of two-time titleholder BJ Penn in late October of 2011. However, that is his only victory in his second stint in the UFC in his last 11 bouts. Before then he spent several years fighting in Dream, EliteXC and Strikeforce. Most people will tell you that the best fighters are in the UFC and other MMA organizations only house second or even third-tier fighters. While I am one of those people, I think that traveling to Japan, bouncing around the continental United States and winning ten straight MMA bouts is equal to beating BJ Penn under the bright lights of the Octagon. He and his brothers’ boxing has been top notch in resent bouts with victories over other top boxers such as Penn and Paul Daley. If the fight goes to the ground he will have the experience of a BJJ black belt from Cesar Gracie to fight with against Condit. I believe that most of the bout will take place on the feet as both men like to showcase their striking skills for the world to see.

Interesting note: Both men have won the World Extreme Cagefighting Welterweight Championship. Diaz in March of 2003 and Condit in March 2007.

Prediction…
I see this fight going into the championship rounds with excellent striking given and taken by both fighters. Both men will probably take a quick trip to the hospital after the fight, but only one will carry that 12 pounds of gold, diamonds and leather with them.

Diaz by unanimous decision (48-47) to be come the UFC’s Interim Welterweight Champion.

Carlos Condit Georges St. Pierre Las Vegas Nick Diaz UFC 143 Welterweight Champion