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WEC coming to Corpus Christi, Texas on March 1st
By Zach Arnold | January 16, 2009
The top two fights on the card will be Mike Brown vs. Leonard Garcia for the WEC Featherweight Title and Carlos Condit vs. Brock Larson for the WEC Welterweight Title. The event is taking place at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, which is the same location that Elite XC ran with KJ Noons beating Nick Diaz for the 160-pound EXC belt. (It was also home to Kimbo Slice vs. Bo Cantrell, not so much a highlight.)
With knowledge that fighters under the Zuffa banner usually have a close-to-70% chance of winning a re-match if they beat their opponent in the first encounter, WEC is trying to do the hard sell on how or why Brock Larson will have a chance against Condit:
There’s been one man that has completely dominated the WEC’s 170-pound division and that man is Welterweight champion Carlos Condit (6’2”/170 lbs., fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.). With a first-round submission victory against Larson in 2007, Condit will be coming in with plenty of confidence. At only 24, the champion has compiled a 21-4 record and is 5-0 in the WEC with four wins coming via submission and one by TKO. Now the champion faces a man he knows all too well.
“I am excited for the matchup,” Condit said. “The first time out I was able to make it a short night. Since then he has evolved as a fighter and he is a very dangerous opponent. I think my new training camp will help me be better prepared for a very tough Brock Larson. I feel like I am facing the top 170-pounder in the WEC. Brock has been on fire as of late and I expect him to give me a very tough fight.”
Title shots are a luxury that some fighters never receive; and Brock Larson (5’11”/170 lbs., fighting out of Brainerd, Minn.), who has won his last two fights since losing to Condit, knows that a second shot at the belt is something that cannot be wasted.
“I’m confident that there’s going to be a different outcome,” Larson said. “I’ve been in there and felt how strong he is or isn’t. I’ve got everything to gain and he’s got everything to lose. I’ve got a lot more confidence and I know it’s going to be a war. I’m training for 25 minutes of hell. There’s no need to finish a fight in the first round. I’m going to go in there and do my thing. I’m going to slow it down, win the fight more strategically.”
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
OMG!
Condit vs Larson 2
This is the rematch ive been waiting my whole life for!!!
What the Fuck is up with this new WEC matchmaker?
Faber vs Pulver 2
Condit vs Larson 2
Whats next?
Torres vs Maeda 2?
At least Torres/Maeda was a competitive fight the first time.
Brock Larson is massively underrated. Incredible talent.
Yeah, I’d go for Torres Maeda 2, too.
even after Maeda just got prison raped in under a minute at the last WEC show?
Who cares if Maeda lost his last fight? That’s been his MO for his entire career. He’ll either take a fight deep and be competitive, or he’ll run into a Joe Pearson guillotine.
Winner of Larson/Condit 2 should go to the UFC. Fold up the WEC Welterweight Division.
I would agree that both Larson and Condit are too good not to be fighting guys in UFC’s welterweight division, but I don’t know if it’s necessary to get rid of WEC welterweight. Maybe move some UFC guys down.
“Winner of Larson/Condit 2 should go to the UFC. Fold up the WEC Welterweight Division.”
They’ve folded up just the right amount of WEC divisions already. I don’t think they should fold anymore of them.
The divisions are fine. My only problem with the WEC is that I’d like to see Condit and Varner in the UFC. I think both guys are on the cusp of being top 10 fighters, but the the quality of opponents just isn’t there.
Of course, I suppose that could be interpreted as a weakness of the divisions. In the BW and FW divisions, the WEC has got the best fighters in the world, and they can build up legitimate, long-term legacies with the champs. However, for the WW and LW division, the WEC is more like a farm league that fighters can use to get into the superior UFC divisions. They can’t really build a large legacy, since fans want every WEC champ who’s worth his salt to compete in the UFC instead.
Brock Larson has destroyed three guys in a row since his loss to Condit, opne of whom holds a win over Condit. He has earned his rematch.
Would you rather he be stuck in limbo for the rest of his career? Should Hughes-GSP 2 never have happened? How about Couture-Liddell 2? Or Fedor-Nog 2?
Sometimes you’ve got to do what is right for the fighters, even if the fans aren’t all on board.
The difference is that fights like Hughes/GSP and Fedor/Noguiera were among the #1 and #2 in their divisions. In the case of Liddell/Couture II, among the elites in the world. Brock Larson is not a top ten lightweight. Condit barely is. No one believes either man would be a legit “world champion” to any greater degree than is Jake Shields.
“The difference is that fights like Hughes/GSP and Fedor/Noguiera were among the #1 and #2 in their divisions.”
They might not be #1 & #2 in world, but they are certainly #1 and #2 in the promotion. Who would you rather see Condit fight?
Who would you rather see Condit fight?
Someone good in the UFC? Its not like the WEC belt has ever meant anything.
The fact that someone like Condit holds it makes the WEC WW title mean something. Condit is as legit as they come he beat Trigg and Charuto when they were considered the #3 and #4 WW’s in the world. The guy will be in the UFC in a couple of years and will probably be UFC WW champion he’s that good. Larson is a damn good fighter in his own right and deserves this rematch and if Carlos isn’t carefull he’ll get beat because Brock is very dangerous.
“Someone good in the UFC?”
Obviously, we all would like to see that. But it ain’t gonna happen.
Given that he is remaining in the WEC, who would you rather see him fight from the WEC roster.
Larson is the best candidate available IMO.
WEC went from having some of the best match making in the sport to some of the worst.
Given that he is remaining in the WEC, who would you rather see him fight from the WEC roster.
Whether or not he’s remaining in the WEC doesn’t change my opinion. He’s not gonna defend his “world title” against anyone who’s really an elite fighter. Larson’s a good example: He’s got three w’s in a row since getting owned, but one of those guys was 2-5, one was against a mediocre journeyman (does anyone really care about Carlo Prater?), and the third was a DQ win against the best opponent he faced over that stretch when he got kneed in the head on the ground.
As for Condit being the “real deal”, real deals don’t lose to Pat Healy.
I agree that the WEC’s matchmaking got worse in late 2008 after they replaced the WEC’s long-time matchmaker with Joe Silva’s assistant, but in general, I think a lot of you are selling the WEC short. It can’t possibly have many of the best fighters in the world in its 155- and 170-pound weight classes because Zuffa owns another MMA promotion that it’s going to put those fighters in, but that doesn’t automatically mean that everyone in the WEC sucks. Don’t be so quick to dismiss all of those fighters.
Yeah your right Condit is not the real deal at all it’s not like he’s finished his last 8 opponents after that loss or anything. I love nothing more than whenever someone wants to put down another fighter they bring up their one or two bad losses and completelly ignore his multiple big wins. Condit’s resume speaks for itself anyone claiming that he isn’t legit doesn’t know what they are talking about.
I agree with EJ, Condit is a top ten fighter for sure. Pat Healy is a decent fighter, but even if he wasn’t, one loss to a sub-standard fighter doesn’t ruin someone’s reputation forever. If that was the case, Anderson Silva’s reputation would be ruined from losing to a fighter with a losing record, Daiju Takase, and it isn’t.
It’s not that the matchmaking is bad, they’re just running out of contenders. They’ve only got one show every two months, with 4 belts and less than 20 fighters per show. Just doing the numbers, you’re only looking at about a 2-3 fight winning streak to emerge as the #1 contender for a title shot.
The more shows and fighters you have, the longer a fighters winning streak can get before you give him a title fight. To create a long-term, sustainable hierarchy to guarantee a fighter has a 4-0 streak before challenging for the belt, you need two 3-0 guys to fight, and to get that you need four 2-0 guys to fight each other, and eight 1-0 guys. Visually, it would look like a pyramid.
Without infusing new talent into the roster, the matchmaking was doomed to get stale after a while.
Condit is #9 or #10 in the world, and he has earned that ranking.
The next logical guy down from Larson for Condit to fight inside the WEC was Prater, and Larson just beat him in a number one contender fight.
Outside of moving one or both of them to UFC, or bringing in a big gun from Japan, this is the best fight you can have.
These don’t seem like good rebuttals to the argument being presented. So, Condit isn’t “barely a top ten fighter” because he’s #9 or #10? Larson is a good fight because he’s the next best guy in a second rate promotion’s anemic welterweight division?
You know what would be good? Condit fighting top 10 welterweights, or at least new challenges among the top 20. If he’s gonna be fighting and beating the same 3-4 guys over and over and over he’s never gonna get any better.
Well, that’s assuming that no up-and-coming welterweights will emerge in the WEC, and I don’t think it’s safe to assume that.
Under contract to the WEC right now, they have Serdyukov, Hendricks, Villefort, and Avena as potential new challenges down the line from within. I don’t see any of those guys elevating themselves to the top twenty fighting amongst themselves or the other competitors in the WEC. They need to move down some guys from the UFC, otherwise Condit’s gonna be getting in three defenses a year against bums in half filled Vegas theaters.