Condit: Water bottle tossing is childish, fist fight would be classier

Conor McGregor got into a water bottle, curse, and energy drink exchange with the 209 during a UFC 202 media event. The antics will put asses in seats, but during an discussion with Steve Cofield and RJ Clifford on their SiriusXM Rush Fight Club radio show, former UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit said he was not impressed.

“Honestly man, it wasn’t a good look,” said Condit, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “I thought it was childish. I think a fist fight would’ve been better than throwing a bunch of water bottles at each other. I think that would be a bit more classy in my opinion… I think that for years we’ve been trying to change public perception of the sport, and I don’t think this incident did much to help that.”

“Both Nick and Nate definitely like to try and get in your head, try and get you to fight emotionally. When you see guys that kind of disconnect and don’t play into that game, they do very well against them. But when you get guys like- for instance, when Donald Cerrone fought Nate he was all riled up. He was pissed. Nate had him going and he went out there and fought like shit. I think there’s something to be said for that. Conor’s a proud guy and he’s not disconnecting like I said. I don’t think that’s a smart way to go into this fight against Nate.

“Who knows how much is real and how much is just for show? If I was in his camp, I’d tell him to just let them do their thing. But on the other side of it, he’s great at getting into other people’s heads. It’s two guys that kind of play that game so I doubt that he’s going to step back his rhetoric or his antics because that’s who he is.”

Condit himself has a fight coming up, next Saturday, vs. Demian Maia on August 27, in the main event of UFC on Fox 21.

“A win over Maia puts me right back in title contention, especially with the performance that I know I’m going to put on against Maia, gets me a title shot,” said Condit. “I think that I have one last run in me before I’m ready to ride off into the sunset.”