After First Win in Five Years, Carlos Condit Says ‘I Still Have Fire in My Gut’

AT. THE. HORN. @CarlosCondit dropped Court McGee at the end of the first round at #UFCFightIsland4 pic.twitter.com/XR0UG1w11q

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 4, 2020

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Advertisement

There were probably quite a few fans watching UFC on ESPN 16 who never saw Carlos Condit at his peak.

One of the sport’s most reliable action fighters for most of his career, the New Mexico native is a former World Extreme Cagefighting titlist and ex-UFC interim champ who has a laundry list of memorable bouts on his resume. Heading into his matchup with Court McGee on Saturday, Condit had fallen on hard times, losing his last five Octagon appearances.

“The Natural Born Killer” shook off a slow start to end that skid, earning a unanimous decision victory over McGee in a preliminary welterweight bout at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi. It was Condit’s first victory since May 30, 2015.

On the heels of losses to Robbie Lawler and Demian Maia in 2016, Condit mentioned on multiple occasions that he was leaning toward retirement. Despite a prolonged stretch of struggles, Condit seems to more passionate about competing than he was then.

“Competing at this level for a long period of time, you’re going to have wins and losses. I’m still about it. I still have fire in my gut,” Condit said. “This fits right into the craziness of 2020 for me. It’s been a while since I’ve had a win. I haven’t fought in almost two years. It feels really good.”

 “I love this. I love what I do—win or lose. I’m a competitor. I come here to show up and get my hand raised.”

Condit took a little while to get warmed up on Saturday, but he permanently turned the tide when he floored McGee with a right hook at the Round 1 horn. From there, he was able to outland his veteran foe over the course of the final 10 minutes, as McGee fought with what appeared to be a broken nose the rest of the way.

“I just wanted to continue to push the pace,” Condit said. “I saw that his nose looked like a boomerang. So I was going to try and target that more. Court stood up and I don’t think he knew exactly what happened. I think he thought the fight was over.”

Condit offered McGee a different look in the Octagon, keeping his opponent off balance by adopting a southpaw stance. He believes that helped prevent McGee from settling into his traditional grinding style.

“Part of [the game plan] was to fight long southpaw,” Condit said. “For whatever reason, Court didn’t shoot much. He’s got a really good wrestling game. He’s really good at pushing guys up against the fence and grinding them out. I think that threw him off. He wasn’t able to shoot very much.”