Issue 131
August 2015
Carlos Condit’s chopping elbows catapulted him back into title talks after they left Thiago Alves’ nose mangled and blood.
Instead of checking into the emergency room after UFC Fight Night 67, Thiago Alves needed a plastic surgeon following a salvo of brutal elbows from ‘The Natural Born Killer’. After sitting on the sidelines for 14 months, Carlos Condit returned to give a vintage performance that left the talented Brazilian striker bloodied and battered on his stool at the end of the second round of their main-event fight in Goiania, Brazil.
The American turned the fight into a bloodbath with a set of lethal elbows that dropped onto Alves’ nose like spiked dead weights and left the Brazilian virtually unrecognizable. His demise was heralded by a lead left elbow that was set up off his opponent’s jab.
“Well, after the feeling-out process, I just started thinking about the different things we had worked on,” Condit said after the fight. “We put together a lot of different tools, a lot of different tactics and the first thing I threw that we had worked on, really, really worked.
“I didn’t exactly know what happened, but I felt his nose break on my elbow,” Condit said. “I knew that he was hurt. I hurt him with the first rising elbow, then hurt him with the spinning back elbow. I could just feel the fight drained out of him after I hit him that first time.”
The damage to ‘Pitbull’s nose was enough for the Octagon doctor to order referee Mario Yamasaki to call a stop to the contest. The American Top Team product’s corner asked for one more round but their calls were shot down.
The former UFC welterweight interim champion notched his first win since his 2013 stoppage of now semi-retired Martin Kampmann, but because he’s at the top end of the pound-for-pound most exciting fighters on the UFC roster, a title shot could come sooner rather than later. There was already a hatful of names looking to snatch a chance at the belt and Condit added his name into the mix with this spectacular showing.
“I think that my performance speaks for itself,” said Condit “I came out and I got the finish against Thiago Alves, who’s one of the top strikers in the division. I want whoever has the title. Whether it’s Rory (MacDonald) or whether it’s Robbie Lawler, I want
that guy.”
