UFC 154: St-Pierre vs. Condit goes down this Saturday night (Nov. 17, 2012) from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The event is headlined by a welterweight championship unification fight of Georges St-Pierre vs. Carlos Condit as well as a potential No. 1 contender fight at 170-pounds in Johny Hendricks vs. Martin Kampmann.
With the top two bouts on the card featuring St-Pierre, Condit, Hendricks and Kampmann playing a huge role on the future of the welterweight division, MMA Sucka breaks down what a win on Nov. 17 means for the four men carrying the UFC 154 fight card.
Georges St-Pierre
Even after a nearly 19-month layoff, Georges St-Pierre’s name is in the thick of talks regarding potential fights down the road.
Defeating Condit is going to be a difficult task for St-Pierre, but should he pull it off, a ton of options become available for the French-Canadian.
Firstly, and most important, is a superfight with Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva. The GSP-Silva match up is one fans have been clamoring for years to happen and a win by GSP at UFC 154 could very well be the final hurdle to making it happen. We know UFC President Dana White wants it, Silva wants, and while St-Pierre is somewhat reserved about the issue (rightfully so because beating Condit is no walk in the park), it seems he is open to making the fight happen as well.
St-Pierre vs. Silva would likely take place at a 178-pound catchweight and would undoubtedly be the biggest fight in the history of mixed martial arts. Perhaps so much so that the UFC would host the bout in a stadium.
The second, and less likely option, for St-Pierre should he defeat Condit would be a grudge match with Nick Diaz. The two men were supposed to square off at UFC 143 last February before St-Pierre suffered the knee injury that required surgery. The match up is somewhat illogical considering Diaz is coming off a loss to Condit, but at the end of the day it’s a money fight and the match up is no worse than Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen.
Thirdly, and least likely, is a fight with the winner of the night’s co-main event between Martin Kampmann and Johny Hendricks. While either of those match ups would provide a tough test for GSP, neither fight is a money fight like options one an two.
Match ups with Diaz and/or Silva would be huge money fights, but the match ups becoming a reality hinges on St-Pierre’s success at UFC 154. If the 31-year-old is defeated, it’s really up in the air as to what he might do next.
Carlos Condit
‘The Natural Born Killer’ Carlos Condit has the chance to spoil everything written above by taking out Georges St-Pierre at UFC 154 and becoming the undisputed UFC welterweight champion of the world.
While changing weight classes and competing against other champions in super fights may not be in Condit’s immediate future should he win at UFC 154, but he would hold a win over St-Pierre – a feat only two men in history have completed.
St-Pierre has sat comfortably atop the welterweight ranks for years now, however Condit has the chance to bump GSP from the top spot and place himself there.
What does a win at UFC 154 mean for Carlos Condit? How about a championship belt, the No. 1 welterweight ranking in the world and a place in history? Not bad.
Martin Kampmann and Johny Hendricks
While the UFC hasn’t made anything official, there’s a good chance an opportunity to fight for the UFC welterweight championship is on the line when Danish striker Martin Kampmann meets hard-hitting wrestler Johny Hendricks in the UFC 154 co-main event.
Before getting into any title talks regarding Kampmann, it must be pointed out that should be win at UFC 154, ‘The Hitman’ would be one of the top choices for 2012’s ‘Fighter of the Year’. A win over Hendricks would mark Kampmann’s third top-10 win of the calendar year, something no other fighter in MMA can say right now. The 30-year-old has already defeated Thiago Alves and Jake Ellenberger, and adding Hendricks’ name to that resume would be simply incredible. To say Kampmann wouldn’t deserve a title shot with a win at UFC 154 would be ludacris. He has done everything in his power to become No. 1 contender and unless events happen that are out of his control (like GSP putting the belt on hold for a superfight), a win at UFC 154 means a title shot for Kampmann.
Hendricks has been a top-ranked welterweight for some time now, and has been viewed as a future title challenger since his shocking 12-second knockout of Jon Fitch in December 2011. Hendricks combination of knockout power and high-level wrestling makes him extremely dangerous. He has only lost one time in his career to fellow welterweight stud Rick Story. The 29-year-old is being granted a tremendous opportunity and his character will be unveiled in a pressure filled bout in the co-main event of one of the biggest pay-per-view cards of the year.
On a realistic note, both men should be cheering for Condit to win in the main event because that greatly increases their chances of getting a title shot. Condit will defend the belt immediately if he wins while St-Pierre could be fighting Anderson Silva, which would put the belt on hold for quite some time.
There’s no debating the winner of Kampmann vs. Hendricks is the No. 3 ranked welterweight behind St-Pierre and Condit. However, only one can walk away from the bout as the victor, who will it be?
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