The UFC Fight Night card scheduled for May 30 has received a welterweight battle between Carlos Condit and Thiago Alves as a potential main event. The fight does not have odds posted yet, and the location in still to be announced, but it is an interesting fights pitting two men considered to be at the top of the weight class a few years back, but both have been off the radar as of late.
Condit is a former holder of the weight class’ interim belt, but he will have been away from the octagon for fifteen months come fight time. Add to that the fact that since losing a bid for the full title against Georges St Pierre back in November of 2012 Condit has gone 1-2 since. In his last outing, he tore his knee up in the second round against Tyron Woodley. He will also have turned 31 by the time the cage closes.
Alves returned in January of 2015 after fighting just one time since a March 2012 loss to Martin Kampmann. He defeated Seth Baczynski in April of 2014, and the January outing saw him take out Jordan Mein, so a win over Condit would give him a third win in a row and he can start to build up some momentum. He also recently turned 31.
Looking at the records of both men, Alves is 21-9 and Condit is 29-8, and both men have a long list of top notch competition on their resumes. The odds for this fight should in fact be very close if both men come in focused an in shape.
In terms of overall skill and diversity, you have to give the edge to Condit, but Alves packs a lot of striking power into his compact build and he is hard to take to the ground. Condit is a cerebral fighter while Alves fights more off instinct, and Condit has known for a while now that he has to work on his wrestling. Getting a takedown or two on Alves would be a good measure of how Condit has advanced in that respect, and it could be the difference in the fight.
