With all the hype leading up to UFC 143 and the main event between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit, given the fan outcry after, you would think that no fight happened at all.
But truthfully, maybe the fans are both right and wrong; maybe a fight didn’t happen, but a contest did.
With the UFC now on national television, the stakes have never been higher, and the fighters know it. No one wants to lose, because they could find themselves relegated to the undercard instead of the television, and as cool as Facebook is, Fox is a lot cooler, and the main card on the PPV is the coolest.
Not to mention far more lucrative.
Fighters like Josh Koscheck and Carlos Condit did what they felt they had to do to win against dangerous opponents, thus securing their positions in the division and in the minds of the viewing public. Nobody wants to lose; this is the nature of the beast, especially when the beast is roaming the countryside of just about every damn sports bar and Hooters in the country.
The sport is bigger now than it was this time last year, and by years end, it will be much bigger than it is now.
Yes, the main event was not what we expected. We expected a war, and in turn what we got is a contest between a man who wanted to win a fight and a man who wanted to win a title.
Condit utilized a good game plan, fought to the weaknesses of Diaz, and won a decision without having to wage a war, and thereby secured a high profile, high paying title bout with Georges St. Pierre, one of the biggest PPV draws in the sport.
Diaz fans were outraged, but they can take comfort that they probably have not seen the last of Nick Diaz. Diaz knows these things happen in the fight game, and he seems to need to fight as much as the sport of fighting needs him. It’s simply in his DNA.
Josh Koscheck had to fight his heart out just to win a split decision, and with the victory comes another possibly crack at the interim title held by Condit. It was a classic example of making hay while the sun shines, and in the fight game, sunshine isn’t always free, especially for the fans who paid the money for the PPV.
But it wasn’t all bad.
The heavyweight division saw Fabricio Werdum bring his A game. Werdum battered and outmatched Roy Nelson for three rounds.
Renan Barao made a statement by dominating Scott Jorgensen and brought his record to 28-1-1.
Not all of the fights can be like Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, no matter how much hype is generated.
But the match-ups that lead to even the less than thrilling― if not downright boring―fights are necessary. They give us clear divisional rankings and provide us with answers, even when they’re not the answers we want. Now, Condit fights GSP, Koscheck will probably get Diaz next (and if not Koscheck, then probably Jon Fitch), and fighters like Werdum and Barao move up the ranks to fight the next in line.
Yes, there will be more barnburner fights to come, and probably sooner rather than later, just as there will be more disappointing fights.
So we watch and wait, mindful of the lesson learned from UFC 143: Condit doesn’t need to be praised for the way he fought, nor does Diaz need to be mourned for his loss.
