UFC 115 Preview: Can Carlos Condit Stop The Hype In Rory MacDonald?

It seems as though Carlos Condit has been around forever in the MMA world(he has beginning his career in 2002), but the guy is only 26 years old which is quite scary.  The once dominant WEC welterweight champion has looked more human since transitioning over to the UFC welterweight division last year.  He lost a razor close decision to Martin Kampmann in his debut, then had a life and death match up against Jake Ellenberger in which the decision went his way that time.  This fight against Rory MacDonald could quite possibly be the most important fight of his career though.  Condit brings an overall record of (24-5) with 10 wins via KO and 13 wins via submission.  In other words, "The Natural Born Killer" is a finisher with the Ellenberger fight being the first time he's gone to the a decision in a win.  Condit has a lot of positive attributes in that he fights at a very high pace, can take a ton of damage and keep coming, solid striking and submission games.  He also has some weaknesses and Rory MacDonald says that he plans to take advantage of them at UFC.com:

"He’s a strong fighter," said MacDonald of Condit. "Obviously he’s very skilled and dangerous and I respect that, but that’s just added excitement for me. Those are the kind of guys I want to fight, and as soon as I heard it, I was stoked. As far as fighting him, of course I see weaknesses and I have confidence that I’ll be able to beat him, so it should be cool."

MacDonald is a phenom who made his UFC debut at the tender age of 20, winning against MMA veteran Mike Guymon via submission in the very first round.  The kid brings an overall record of (10-0) with 4 wins via KO and 6 wins via submission.  In other words, this guy is a finisher as well.  MacDonald is the former King Of The Cage lightweight champion, but moved up to the welterweight division after capturing that title.

SBN coverage of UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin

This is a fight that I can't wait to see and it should get the UFC PPV off in good order since it'll be the first televised fight on the PPV portion of the card.  It'll be interesting because many think MacDonald has a bright future and who better than to gauge that potential against than Carlos Condit.  The one thing favoring MacDonald right now is that Condit hasn't fought since defeating Ellenberger in September 2009.  He was scheduled to fight at UFC 108 UFC outcast Paul Daley, but injured his hand(cut) and had to pull out of the fight.  However, that time away may have allowed Condit to tighten up a few holes in his game, most notably his takedown defense and striking defense.  If I were a betting man, I wouldn't be surprised to see MacDonald pull off the upset because of Condit's time away from the game.  He and his fiancee' were expecting a child to be born in March, so you have to wonder how that has affected his training camp leading up to the fight as well.  However, you can't ever count Carlos Condit out of any fight which is why he's one of the most exciting fighters out there.  Who you got in this one?