UFC 120 Preview: Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit
When current Ultimate Fighting Championships welterweight (170 lb) Carlos Condit was looking for a high-profile fight to bolster his career, he couldn’t think of a better opponent than Dan Hardy, who had
just lost a title fight to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 111 in March. He mentioned in an interview he wanted the British fighter next, and so the UFC paired them up in a match.
Since then Hardy has called Condit delusional and gone so far as to question Condit’s mental state for wanting to fight him, while Condit has maintained it was a good idea all along. On Saturday we’ll get
to figure out who was right as the two are set to clash in the co-main event of UFC 120, held in Hardy’s home country of England.
Recent form
Hardy has been on a tear in the UFC with four straight wins, including an impressive upset performance over Mike Swick at UFC 105 to earn his shot at St-Pierre’s belt. But the British fighter had his deficiencies
in wrestling exposed over and over against throughout the ensuing title match as he was taken down and controlled at will. He gained respect though for surviving five rounds against the champion, including escaping two significant submission attempts. The
loss puts him at 23-7 in his mixed martial arts career and 4-1 in the UFC.
Condit is 25-5 in his career and 2-1 since joining the UFC. The former World Extreme Cagefighting champion lost his first match to Martin Kampmann in a very tight split decision, then beat Jake Ellenberger
in a similarly close match. In his last fight, at UFC 115 in Vancouver he faced Rory MacDonald. He cleanly lost the first two rounds before putting together an extraordinary comeback that saw him dominate MacDonald in the third and stop him with just seconds
left in the fight.
Style
Hardy is a good striker that likes to catch his opponents with right and left hooks and also occasionally likes to clinch along the cage. He’s tough to catch on the chin and has fast hands that may not have
huge knockout potential, but are enough to make his opponents think twice about trading punches.
Condit has a very good submission game. He is good on the ground, and at just 26 has a wealth of fighting experience to draw upon. His wrestling game isn’t necessarily the best for putting opponents on his
back, but once he gets them there they are in trouble.
Betting odds and prediction
The question in this fight will be whether Condit can take Hardy down. If he can, he’ll have a clear advantage over Hardy, but if Hardy is able to keep the fight standing he can pick up a decision or a KO.
Hardy’s wrestling has been bad in the past, but he’s athletic and young at 28, and has reportedly been working hard to improve after his title loss.
Hardy is the favourite at 5/8, while Condit is more like 7/5. Pick Hardy to avoid damage on the ground and control the striking battle to pick up a 29-28 decision win.
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