{"id":3477377,"date":"2014-03-14T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insidefights.com\/?p=117377"},"modified":"2014-03-13T14:09:03","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T18:09:03","slug":"ufc-171-preview-carlos-condit-vs-tyron-woodley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2014\/03\/14\/ufc-171-preview-carlos-condit-vs-tyron-woodley\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC 171 Preview: Carlos Condit vs. Tyron Woodley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Condit (29-7, 6-3 UFC) vs. Tyron Woodley (12-2, 2-1 UFC)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The co-main event of UFC 171 is a welterweight bout that has title shot implications riding on it as former Interim UFC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit takes on rising contender Tyron Woodley. Condit is looking for his second straight win after avenging his loss to Martin Kampmann when he knocked out Kampmann at UFC Fight Night 27 in August. That broke Condit’s two-fight skid and put his record at 6-2 over his last eight fights. Woodley is also looking for his second straight win after scoring a knockout win over Josh Koscheck at UFC 167 in November. Woodley is just 2-2 over his last four fights after starting his career 10-0.<\/p>\n

Fight Breakdown-<\/strong> Carlos Condit has been on a roll ever since he signed with Zuffa after being one of the top welterweights outside of the UFC for the first several years of his career. He started in the WEC, and went undefeated while there, amassing a 5-0 record and ending his run as the last-ever WEC Welterweight Champion before moving over to the UFC. He debuted against Martin Kampmann in April 2009, and they had a close back-and-forth battle that ended in a close split decision win for Kampmann. Condit then went on a five-fight win streak, and wins over Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald, Dan Hardy and Dong Hyun Kim got Condit a title shot. He was originally slated to replace Nick Diaz against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137 in November 2011, but circumstances ended up with Condit facing Diaz for the Interim UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 143 in February 2012. Condit went on to win a unanimous decision over Diaz, which led him to facing St. Pierre at UFC 154 in November 2012. He came close to finishing St. Pierre, but it was St. Pierre who ended the night as champion. He dropped a decision to Johny Hendricks in his next fight, but bounced back by avenging his loss to Kampmann when he won by TKO in the fourth round in August.<\/p>\n

Tyron Woodley burst onto the scene in the Strikeforce promotion, and was someone who groomed himself there almost from the start of his career. He won his first two fights in a combined 1:57 before getting signed by Strikeforce for a fight. He won his first Strikeforce bout by first-round submission, which led to him getting an extended Strikeforce deal. After the 3-0 start, Woodley went on to win seven straight fights, including wins over Andre Galvao, Tarec Saffiedine, Paul Daley and Jordan Mein to get himself to a perfect 10-0 and a shot at the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Championship. However, he came up short in winning the title as he was knocked out by Nate Marquardt in a title fight. That was Woodley’s final Strikeforce bout as he moved over to the UFC following Strikeforce being dissolved into the UFC. He made a quick impression, scoring a 36-second knockout of Jay Hieron in his UFC debut at UFC 156 in February 2013. He then dropped a controversial decision to Jake Shields at UFC 161 in June, but he bounced back with a big first-round ‘Knockout Of The Night’ win over former title challenger Josh Koscheck at UFC 167 in November.<\/p>\n

The way this fight was put together took an interesting turn, and in the events of that, we have a fight that could determine the challenger for the winner of the main event between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler. The UFC was attempting to set up a rematch between Condit and Diaz for this fight, and while Condit accepted the bout, it was Diaz who turned it down and the fight couldn’t be made. When the news of this broke in December, Woodley ramped up the volume and openly campaigned for the fight against Condit. After blowing up UFC President Dana White’s cell phone with numerous text messages, Woodley got what he wanted when he was tapped to fight Condit. Both men are looking for a significant win to stamp themselves as the next title contender, because due to the hiatus taken by St. Pierre, that leaves the welterweight division and title picture more open than it has been in years, and it brings a fresh of breath air to a division dominated by one man over the last six years. Condit and Woodley find themselves locked into a battle with Rory MacDonald, Matt Brown, Hector Lombard, Jake Shields, Dong Hyun Kim, Jake Ellenberger and Tarec Saffiedine over who will be the next man to get a title shot, and an impressive win here will go a long way in determining the answer.<\/p>\n

Woodley has some vicious power in his hands, as he has shown lately, but Condit is a very tough fighter to finish. In fact, Condit has never been finished by strikes, and it has been almost eight years since Condit has even been submitted. Whether on the offense or defense, and whether he is standing or on the ground, on top or on bottom, Condit is a very active fighter who is always looking to score a finish, and he has a very exciting style of fighting. He will go for everything standing, whether it is head kicks or flying knees, and he is very active off of his back and always looking for submissions. Condit has very good movement on his feet and attacks from all angles, and he uses every body part available- hands, kicks, knees and elbows. He is a very versatile striker, and Woodley is not. Woodley has the punching power, but he has yet to fight a fighter with the striking arsenal that Condit has. Woodley may try to close the distance as he looks for the clinch and the takedown, but Condit is effective at close range and is very good at circling away from any danger that presents itself.<\/p>\n

Woodley may return to his roots and look to make this a takedown game, and that may be his best chance of defeating Condit. Condit can be taken down, and he has been taken down a lot in his UFC career. In fact, the only fight Condit has had in the UFC where he wasn’t taken down was against Dan Hardy, and that is to be expected. Johny Hendricks took Condit down 12 times, and even Martin Kampmann took him down six times in his last fight. However, Condit is very comfortable on his back as he is always attacking with strikes from the bottom and has a very active guard looking for submissions. Another big key to this fight will be the conditioning as Woodley tends to fade late into fights and Condit seems to get better the longer a fight goes, and better the bloodier he gets. Woodley has his best chance at winning the fight early as Condit’s constant pressure and pace setting late in the fight will be hard for Woodley to match. Condit is always ready to fight for 25 minutes, and 15 minutes is never a problem for him. He just can’t fall behind early and be taken down as Woodley can make this fight interesting for the judges early. In the end, the striking versatility and the activeness and pressure from Condit in all areas will be enough for him to take home the win on the scorecards.<\/p>\n

Why It Matters-<\/strong> This is a big fight in terms of determining who may be next in line for a title shot. Rory MacDonald has already stated he wants the next shot, but he just returned to the win column. A win for either Condit or Woodley gives them a longer streak. Condit has all but been guaranteed a title shot with a win. He took Hendricks to the limit, and there is a very good chance he could’ve defeated Hendricks had the fight been five rounds. A rematch for the title would be an interesting rematch. Woodley likely needs a big knockout win to secure a title shot as he just got back into the win column after a loss in a boring fight to Jake Shields. He has a few men ahead of him, but another first-round knockout win would be hard to overlook. There is a lot riding in this fight for both men when it comes to the future, but this has the makings of a fun fight that will help shape up the next several months in the welterweight division.<\/p>\n

Prediction-<\/strong> Condit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fight preview<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":970,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1130,8959],"tags":[59889,60162,62798,121902,65925],"zone":[121871],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/feed\/podcast\/inside-pulse","embedCode":"

UFC 171 Preview: Carlos Condit vs. Tyron Woodley<\/a><\/blockquote>