Condit: Win over Alves at UFN 67 means title contention

Former UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit fights Thiago Alves on Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 67 in Goiania, Brazil. It will have been 442 days since he injured his knee in a fight with Tyron Woodley at UFC 171. However, in an interview with Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting.com, Condit says a win over Alves will put him back in the mix.

“A win over Thiago would be definitely good on my resume,” said Condit. “He’s always been a top guy in the division and even though he’s not ranked high right now, just because he was out for so long with injuries, I think a win over him will put me right back in title contention. Maybe one more fight, I get somebody tough, and then maybe another title show.”

“There’s always ring rust to think about, but, you know, on the positive side I think that I’ve definitely made some improvements and worked on some things on the time that I was out. It was hard, but I got through it. I had to take my time to do my rehab on the knee, but I have a great physical therapist and it got strong when it was time. When I knew I was ready to go, I never thought twice about it.”

“I think my endurance and my conditioning is a weapon and I get stronger as the fight goes on. Even though we’re strikers, we’re both well rounded MMA fighters. I think this fight is probably going to be all over the place. We’re going to show all different aspects of MMA. You know, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and striking. I think neither of us is looking for decisions. We’re both going in to finish the fight. It’s going to be exciting. The fight is going to be stopped. It’s not going to the judges.”

Looking at the UFC top 10 welterweights, who would you have Condit fight following an Alves win that might earn him a title shot?

Champion : Robbie Lawler

1. Johny Hendricks

2. Rory MacDonald

3. Tyron Woodley

4. Carlos Condit

5. Matt Brown

6. Demian Maia

7. Dong Hyun Kim

8. Tarec Saffiedine

9. Jake Ellenberger

10. Kelvin Gastelum