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Who wins the GSP-Carlos Condit fight, and how? Will GSP win and set up a fight with Anderson Silva, or will Condit capture the UFC Welterweight Championship outright?
RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Can I just say, "Damned if I know?" No? S***. Ok, well, look, I have no idea at all how this plays out, or who wins. If I *knew* GSP had a fully healthy knee, if cage-rust weren't a concern, had GSP not spent the last month talking with great self-awareness about having burnt out and how his last fight was not a good fight, had Condit not had nine months to prepare both his body and a game plan, it would be easier to say that GSP was going to take him down repeatedly en route to a 50-45 decision. But man, so many variables. So, I'm going to make a few guesses here. I'm going to guess GSP is healthy. I'm going to guess his cardio is close to as good as it was. I'm going to guess GSP is more willing to stand and will be more aggressive on the ground. I'm going to guess ring-rust comes into play early on. So, taking those artificial constraints into consideration, I see Condit being able to avoid the early takedown and winning the first round. I see GSP slowly taking control after that, but don't ask me whether it'd be in the second or the third. And I see GSP finishing Condit in the championship rounds with elbows on the mat, due to my belief that he really is planning on being more active and aggressive on the mat. How confident am I in this Confident enough to bet Brad Walker's retirement fund, which at a -300 line should get me enough to buy some toothpaste.
DAN MOORE, MMATORCH UK CONTRIBUTOR
In the few years i've been betting on UFC fights; whenever GSP is on the card I barely even paid attention to who his opponent was. It was always a lock that GSP would win, and the heavily favored odds would do little to add value to my accumulator. Now after a serious ACL injury and 18 months on the sidelines, a little bit of doubt creeps into the back of my mind.
I love watching Condit fight and he'll do more to press GSP than Shields, Koscheck and Hardy did combined in the three previous three title match ups at Welterweight. He proved he's tactically astute with the win over Nick Diaz and he also proved his knock out power and explosiveness when defeating both Dan Hardy and Dong Hyun Kim. Condit brings something to the table and GSP will need to be as close to 100% as possible if he's going to get the victory this weekend.
If GSP has suitably recovered and i've no reason to think he hasn't; then I'm going for a relatively comfortable decision victory in front of a vociferous home crowd. If he isn't at full strength and Condit can capitalize on any opportunities that may present themselves, then it's a 50/50 match up. GSP is so good that I have to back him, but Condit will be the biggest test he has had in a very long while. GSP wins by decision and the UFC go all WWE again by bringing out Anderson Silva to announce their fight next year.
BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
GSP will make Condit know that back pedaling is a bullshit tactic and that when you have a belt you need to actually defend it. GSP is going to take him apart piece by piece and finish him with ground and pound. After that he and silva will face off in the cage post fight to officially kick off the build up to their fight. I'm not a big GSP fan but I do believe in his abilities and his renewed sense if necessity to finish fights and I believe he will do just that.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I think GSP comes out on fire and gets the ref stoppage in the 4th round. I think GSP will jab Condit to pieces and slowly break him down. I'm a huge Condit fan, but GSP is on a different level.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
As good as Condit is, GSP will win this. GSP is one of the best and most well rounded fighters in the history of the sport. Condit is a good fighter, but not one who is on the same level as GSP. Condit could win, but GSP will win. He is better everywhere and will use his wrestling in reverse to keep the fight standing. I think GSP will KO Condit in the third round. GSP vs Anderson Silva will be an all-time great fight if the UFC can put it together.
JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Carlos Condit, better than any fighter Georges St-Pierre has fought in the UFC, has a deep understanding of what is skills are and how he matches up with the champ. He hasn't deluded himself into believing that he's going to go in there, stuff all of St-Pierre's takedowns, force a kickboxing match with him and win on points. He's well aware of the fact that to be victorious, he's going to need to stop him.
What makes Condit a bigger threat to St-Pierre than all of his other challengers is that he's not going in to the fight with that sort of false confidence. This is a guy that gets taken down in almost every fight he's in, and he usually wins by stoppage anyway. He's prepared to fight St-Pierre everywhere. He won't fatigue, he won't slow down, and he's capable of flattening any welterweight in the world at any given moment.
I'm going to go ahead and pick Carlos Condit to tip over GSP's applecart and become the Undisputed UFC Welterweight Champion.
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/roundtables/article_15026.shtml
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