Photo by Esther Lin for MMA Fighting.
As I sit here in the media room surrounded by the photo and video reporters, I the emotions of a live event are finally being lifted. There was a ton of anticipation for the interim title bout between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit as many people expected the fight to deliver fireworks. While the general feeling is split, there is no doubt that both fighters elevated themselves despite the decision. With three hours before my flight back to Austin, Texas, let's take a look at the biggest winner and losers of UFC 143.
WINNERS
Carlos Condit: Throughout the entire week, the media were discounting Condit's ability to play spoiler for the potential matchup between Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz. While it may not be the fight that people expected, Condit fought a perfect fight and walked away with not just the win but also a sweet Harley Davidson motorcycle. Not a bad way to spend Super Bowl weekend, huh?
Fabricio Werdum: He looked incredibly dominant in every facet of the fight, especially in the clinch. Lesser men would have crumbled to those knees to the face so the lack of a finish cannot be held against the two time Abu Dhabi champion. He's likely a win or two away from a shot at the UFC heavyweight belt.
Dustin Poirier: Dustin 'Diamond' was originally scheduled to face Eric Koch in a title eliminator. Unfortunately, the Duke Roufus product suffered an injury and was replaced by Max Holloway. While the fight may not have earned him a shot at Jose Aldo's belt, Poirier walked away with a $65k bonus which will ease that pain.
Ed Herman: There's something to say about a complete career rebirth. After a slew of injuries that kept him sidelined, Herman is now on a three fight win streak and a new found look on MMA.
Stephen Thompson: The highlight reel knockout over Dan Stittgen is a great way to make a UFC debut. The fact that he's such a highly touted prospect will mean that the UFC will develop him slowly as he has a bright future in the promotion. A fantastic performance from a young fighter.
Losers and other thoughts after the jump...
SBN coverage of UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit
LOSERS
Matt Riddle: That was a god awful performance against a featherweight. It may seem absurd but Matthew Riddle has regressed since his time on the Ultimate Fighter. The only good news for Riddle is that as bad as he was tonight, he still put on a better performance than...
Rafael Natal: Rafael Natal is hands down the worst fighter in the UFC's middleweight division. I'm not arguing this or even offering any sort of evidence. If you watched the fight tonight you know I'm right. He walked away with the W but looked awful in the effort.
Alex Caceres: I hate saying that his game plan was to land two ridiculously hard low blows but holy cow did those take a ton out of Edwin Figueroa's tank. Justice was served though as Caceres walked away with the L and hopefully with a lesson in leg kicks.
OTHER THOUGHTS
1 recs | 90 comments
I was disappointed in the main event
I feel like I was sold a fight and got a stand-up Fitching, and that people are supporting it because winning is the most important thing. OK, fine, but will these same people talk about how “masterful” and “technical” GSP is if he wrestlefucks Condit to a 3-card 50-45 victory? Probably not. Know why? Diaz hate is what’s driving this.
A “W” is a “W”, except for Fitch or GSP, right? They’re required to go for the finish, but Condit is only required to win on points.
Full disclosure: I picked Condit to win by TKO in the 4th on MMA Playground, and I wanted him to win because I thought he presented the best tool set to get GSP out of his comfort zone. I’m glad he won, but hate how he did it.
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
I think the issue with this fight was Diaz
Condit got wild way more than Diaz did.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
That's because Condit had the freedom to.
He was besting Nick everywhere, except for the very few times that Nick was able to back him into the cage. All Nick could do was keep trying to walk Carlos down and throw hooks and those sloppy kicks. You want to talk about baby girl kicks, the only such kicks I saw in that fight came from Diaz. Condit was hitting him with elbows and knees inside, circling around him and chopping at him with low kicks and stinging punches + high kicks.
ElliotMatheny - February 5, 2012
I seem to remember an article on MMA Fighting about Condit's incredible "gameness."
Condit should sue Luke Thomas for libel.
Moper - February 5, 2012
Why didn't Diaz "game"?
I don’t understand why people aren’t willing to admit that Diaz didn’t adjust and attempt to cut Condit off. Diaz thinks hamming it up and pretending to be a tough guy will will cause his opponents to open themselves up and charge at him emotionally. Diaz needed to work for this win and he didn’t, he walked around trying to bait Condit who never bit.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
Not sure what fight you watched...
I saw Diaz chasing him and trying to cut him off most of the fight.
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
I do need to watch it again.
But if Diaz was chasing him as much as you say then I guess that makes Condit’s that much better
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
Right...
Condit fought a technical, masterful fight and won fair and square. When he does it against Diaz, we call it “smart”.
When Fitch and GSP do it, we call it “boring”, “lame”, “not going for the finish”. Why the discrepancy? Condit was fighting the much-hated Diaz.
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
Well I didn't compare Condit to GSP. Take that into another thread.
I had my eye’s firmly fixed on Condit during the fight and I recall all kinds of interesting strikes – body strikes, attempts at flying knees, spinning back fists coming from Condit
I thought both fighters were conservative, but somehow Condit seemed flashier, if cautious.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
Condit clearly won the fight; I had him 4 rounds to 1.
But Condit wasn’t landing with those flashy techniques.
Diaz doesn’t have a great chin—he has a good chin and great recovery. Diaz has been knocked down before, but Condit never even wobbled Diaz. Also, Cyborg did more damage to Diaz with leg kicks in (less than) 2 rounds than Condit did in 5.
I’m not saying Condit isn’t awesome or that he didn’t soundly defeat Diaz, I’m saying that Condit didn’t exhibit gameness.
Moper - February 5, 2012
While Condit "wasn't landing", what was Diaz doing? Just standing there?
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
Yep. That's why Diaz lost.
How many times did Condit try a spinning backfist? Four or five? I think I remember one sort of landing, but none of them were effective. And he missed that flying knee.
Moper - February 5, 2012
Agreed and it’s because Condit’s track record proves that he’s actually fought to win. He ktfo’d hardy and DHK. The guy has done everything to prove he is elite. He beat everyone in his path in a visually masterful way. Now if he wants to fight smart against Diaz to prove he can be a champion, why not? It’s not like he wrestle fucked all his previous opponents. He fought everyone else with the intention to win decisively. Have we forgotten all that?
surri - February 5, 2012
I get it.
And that’s fine. Winning is everything — no one agrees with that more than I do. But it was such a letdown, being promised a brawl and getting a standing-Fitching.
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
heres the difference
Look at GSP’s fight against koscheck. He had a great gameplan that broke down koscheck and by the end of round 3 he was beaten but GSP refused to change his gameplan and go for the finish. Condit at no point had diaz broken and beaten and could easily finish him rather diaz was dangerous till the very end which is why it was smart to continue his gameplan. If he had diaz seriously hurt I doubt highly he would have just stood there watching him.
benten20 - February 5, 2012 via mobile
Actually,
I’m of the opinion that this decision wouldn’t be controversial but for all the Diaz fans. The Diaz love is what’s even pushing this storyline so hard. Even all us Carlos fans would’ve loved to see Nick fight GSP, and as to hating on Nick, that’s mainly a result of the pathetic way he handled the loss.
Kwisatz Haderach - February 5, 2012
I was saying the exact same thing uncle max
After the first round when diaz continued to chase and condit would not engage. I thought it was time for change. nick was doing damage with body shots and kicks but seemed to be head hunting. I think Diaz will have a much better plan if they fight again.
whardiek - February 5, 2012 via mobile
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
What unites Condit and Diazand ConditMoper - February 5, 2012
Yeah, those spinning backfists, jumping knees, and multiple kick combos weren't risky at all!ElliotMatheny - February 5, 2012
and every one of them landedtigerlee - February 5, 2012
Condit landed over 78% of his kicks
And actually had higher accuracy with his power kicks.
Not like that’s even the point. The point is that Condit was absolutely taking risks by throwing all of those techniques. They can leave you wide open to counterstrikes and takedowns, but Carlos did them all the same.
ElliotMatheny - February 5, 2012
Did any of them actually stagger Diaz? It looked like an 80% sparring session from both fighters, not the “dogfight” that was promised for weeks leading up to the fight. None of those 78% landed kicks had power, they were forms kicks that didn’t stop his opponent from coming forward. I’m not saying Condit should have done this or that…he won. I have no grounds to say he should have changed plans to please me, but the Condit we saw here was clearly not the same fighter we saw in the cage with Hardy or any of his earlier fights. That was just not a definitive win in my opinion. I should also state that if the decision went to Diaz, I would have still been disappointed…overall it was just a bad, anti-climactic fight.
tigerlee - February 6, 2012
Diaz buckled from a low kick in the 5'th.
ElliotMatheny - February 7, 2012
Condit gets a pass once, imo
If you fight that way once, it’s smart and technical, especially considering he beat a guy who is considered to have some of the best boxing in MMA. Doing it on a regular basis gets you a lot of hate, ask Dominick Cruz.
simpsycho - February 5, 2012
This
People aren’t giving Condit a pass on his point win because he did it to Diaz, but because this is the first time he’s employed a disciplined, conservative strategy. If Condit continues to fight conservatively and fails to finish guys, then you’ll really start to hear the same criticism GSP has been getting.
Jobumoplata - February 6, 2012
In other news...
I think Max Holloway has a future in the UFC. I was impressed with the early pressure.
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
Yes, I'd like to see him fight someone a little more evenly matched. He's got big potential if he can work on his ground game.
NickRingp4pGOAT - February 6, 2012
I agree with your point on Natal 100%
dpk875 - February 5, 2012
Any guy who takes a hat off one of their entorages head to give to a fan like Condit did is a good guy, but that performance was not good to watch. I don’t know how many times Condit literally ran away from engaging Diaz, but it was quite a few.
Still, at least the people with an irrational Kathy Bates-in-misery type of obsessive hatred towards Diaz got their chance to leap on line and vent their poison. Good for them!
sheikybaby - February 5, 2012
I haven't seen much hate for Diaz, most of it seems aimed at Condit.
Rabid Diaz fans being irrationally defensive when it isn’t justified..sounds like Diaz.
and yeah, I hope Diaz doesn’t retire, I want to see him back in there, he’s an interesting guy and I like him as a fighter regardless of his flaws.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
If GSP or Fitch fought the way Condit did tonight.
How much bitching would there be?
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
Irrelevant way to make a point. Was this a tag team match with GSP and Fitch waiting on the edge of the cage? They weren't in the fight, get over it.
Take the fight as a singular event.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
I'll remind you of this if you ever call GSP or Fitch boring.
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
I don't. I just accept them fighting the way they fight and don't throw my toys out of my cot. See not all keyboard warriors are born alike.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
I'm a keyboard warrior because I wanted the brawl I was promised?
Grow up.
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
No you misread, it was a joke aimed at myself.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
Cause GSP and Fitch do it all the time against clearly inferior opponents. Condit fought a careful fight against a really dangerous guy. Clearly different things.
toxic - February 5, 2012
Scratch my remark about not seeing much hate for Diaz.. just saw the retirement thread comments :P
People don’t usually like that sort of behavior though..I think it’s more his lack of grace in defeat that got people hating than Diaz himself.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
Everyone talked about how this would be a FOTY-candidate and how much it would be a war. I don’t think neither Condit och Diaz made any new fans today, and if this point fighting is the new thing, UFC will have to find a way to make fighters finish fights. Nobody that saw these two for the first time will be excited for their next fight, same thing with the On Fox card winners… And GSP – Condit? My money is on a UD…
And am I the only one who was really impressed with the new intro?
blodpalt - February 5, 2012
Loved the intro and think it could have gone another minute or so
More of that would have been better.
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
I liked the intro but to me the ending when they cut to the screens with Condit and Diaz on them looked kind of cheap.
blutspender - February 5, 2012 via mobile
Probably looks cheap because they needed a simple way to alter that footage for each event.
That’s just a technical thing.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
Get out.
Superstitiousmma - February 5, 2012
agreed
steve cantwell, anybody?
pingpongplaya - February 5, 2012
I thought this was BS as well
Dudes not the best but come on, why shit on the dude?
cager - February 5, 2012
agreed
And I hope im not the only one who disagrees that matt riddle did not put on a god awful performance. i was actually quite entertained by his fighting in rounds 2 and 3. Probably my favorate riddle win so far.
DSdouble - February 5, 2012
I don’t understand the point of that type of over-exaggeration from the article. His striking is still sloppy, but he was hitting his mark a lot of times. He was able to take Kiuper down almost at will in the first two rounds. His BJJ is good too. I am not much of a fan of Natal or anything, but it comes off as strange to put him down so much.
chrisbboy82 - February 5, 2012
agreed 100%
i don’t get why he’s ripping on natal. if natal is the shittiest fighter in the middleweight div, then what about kiuper? he must be a joke then
pingpongplaya - February 5, 2012
Though I agree on the scorecards and can’t help but feel schadenfreude towards Dana and the UFC who obiously were overlooking Condit’s chances to win the fight, I still would rather want to see GSP vs. Diaz
blutspender - February 5, 2012 via mobile
Justice was definitely not served with that 2pts deduction from Caceres. And despite the head kick, I do believe he won the first and 2nd rounds anyway.
GreyedOut - February 5, 2012
this...
Snake_Pliskan - February 5, 2012
Also this
1 point taken away I understand. And the fact that later on in the koscheck fight herb decided to not only NOT take away two points from Koscheck but to give him the chance of a second warning just proves consistency is something that needs to be worked on with refs. Even if the double nut shot was more warrented for a point deduction, they need rules set in place so that it doesn’t look like refs are favoring other fighters and determining outcomes with out of the box suggestions. Really herb?? 2 points???
cager - February 5, 2012
I totally agree.
And the fact that those nut shots can happen from guys turning into them accidentally. The fingers in the face has everything to do with the person sticking their fingers out. That was bs that he wasn’t deducted a point. It gave me flashbacks of the article about it paying off to cheat because there is little to no punishment.
NickRingp4pGOAT - February 6, 2012
Can we get Natal vs. Palhares?
I want Paul to have a tune up fight to keep him busy until Chael and Anderson meet again.
Snatchl - February 5, 2012
Losers
The fans who were excited to see the main event that promised fireworks
Considering this is Super Bowl Sunday I think the perfect analogy would be if the Giants beat the Patriots 12-3, scoring all points off Field Goals.
A win is a win but the next day everyone will be talking about how much it sucks, unless you are a Giants fan or hate the patriots.
AnotherBadPrediction - February 5, 2012
I wish Diaz won
I blame Condit.
UncleMax - February 5, 2012
What the hell?
Justice served to Bruce leeroy? Man he was robbed out that victory herb dean was on some bullshit that night horrible call.. Justice served? It ain’t like it was on purpose.. Bruce leeroy is the future of that division
psychoblack - February 5, 2012 via mobile
lol
IKiIIed007 - February 5, 2012
I agree 100%
And I’m not being sarcastic either. Herb Dean was bad tonight. 2 points off a warning but no point deduction for Kos’ poke? Ridiculous.
sun yue - February 5, 2012
Herb Dean just bringing the wackness lately
Also, I would like to see Caceres back in the UFC. I think he is well rounded enough to stick around in the middle of that division.
Two points is a bit extreme for an accidental foul.
discoandherpes - February 5, 2012
Not to mention how trigger happy he was with the stand-ups
sun yue - February 5, 2012
two points for a foul
granted accidental was baited on by Figueroa’s constant OMG he hit me twice in the balls, big deal. And it was a round later after who knows how many successful and legal strikes
inthepipes - February 5, 2012
I don't mind you psycho
But saying Caceres is the future of 135 is incredibly stupid, especially considering that the future of that division fought on the main card last night, and won.
T.C. Engel - February 5, 2012
Caceres is the future. He's got size, speed, and talent.
He’s missing some skill, but at 23 and his rate of improvement, he looks damn good.
sun yue - February 5, 2012
Would you argue for Caceres over Barao?
T.C. Engel - February 5, 2012
Not presently
But in the future, who knows? He’s shown remarkable improvement over his last few few fights. psychoblack isn’t being completely delusional.
GreyedOut - February 5, 2012
You're arguing for a guy who lost to Mackens Semerzier over a 25 year old over a 28 fight winning streak.
Think about that please.
T.C. Engel - February 5, 2012
I don’t think he will even be in the UFC next year to be honest. I think he is still here because they like his gimmicks.
spectaa - February 5, 2012
No way in hell.
It’s like Phil Davis and Gustafsson. One is clearly better and he trucked him when they fought, but there’s room for multiple prospects in a division. Obviously Barao is better than Davis and Gustafsson is better than Caceres relative to their divisions, but I think you get the point.
sun yue - February 5, 2012
Psychoblack with the good jokes (talking about the end, I actually agree with the rest).
spectaa - February 5, 2012
Without those groin shots
Figueroa would have been much better of a fighter. Bruce LeeRoy should have been DQ’d after that second low blow.
aaronb - February 6, 2012
I have a hard time saying Condit fought a perfect fight
When the fight was close. People are acting like he blew out Diaz.
discoandherpes - February 5, 2012
I'm not sure I agree
On both those inside leg kicks, they were aimed correctly but Figueroa lowered his stance for an attack which put his balls in harm’s way. Not intentional at all IMHO.
Scott Whitaker - February 5, 2012
I don’t know about the second, but on the first, I think Figueroa moved forward into the kick. Just an instance of really bad timing, but neither of the kicks looked intentional to me.
I don’t know if this is fair, but i think Edwin played up the kicks a little bit; there was a point in between the two kicks where he tries to claim he was kicked but Herb straight up tells him the blow was legal and to continue
Caceres certainly looked better than I expected. He dominated Edwin, but you have to figure the kicks played a role in that
Robert V-U - February 5, 2012
Yeah, it's a shame
Honestly, I scored it 28-27 Caceres because other than the headkick knockdown he pretty much owned the striking and grappling.
Scott Whitaker - February 5, 2012
Alex Caceres
has to be a winner. the L is the record is a robbery. he dominated 14 of the 15 minutes in the cage with everyone and they black step child baby saying he was going to get steamrolled. He showed excellent ground game(which should of won his the decision barring a judging robbery or herb dean’s i hate this ni**a two point deduction)
inthepipes - February 5, 2012
His ground wasn't good
His opponent was just ridiculously bad. He gifted him his back.
KGNLuc - February 5, 2012
I heard he really took bad damage to his junk
Somebody in another thread wrote something about a “testicular contusion” and it being really a pain in …the balls, I guess.
KGNLuc - February 5, 2012
Jorgensen lost to the hottest fighter in the division. He’s hardly “fallen off the bantamweight map.”
alxn - February 5, 2012
Where are all the comments about Nelsons standing guillotine?
It was beautiful and out of no where. How often do you see Werdum lifted off the ground with a choke. I know he didnt finish but it was still exciting to see. I think is he was too tired to finish it standing and didnt want to take the chance of pulling guard for obvious reasons. Although I think if he had pulled guard as soon as he had him airborn it would have worked.
cccruiser81 - February 5, 2012
Kim Winslow had a good night
You can tell she did: no one’s bitching about her.
(And I thought she was really exceeding her best efforts in the pre-fight
caressingchecks for grease. I’m surprised she took the fighters’ word for it that they were wearing cups.)( . Y . ) - February 5, 2012
I don’t think she did, at one point she dropped down out of the frame and didn’t come back up for ta least 4 seconds.
thirdparty - February 5, 2012
Another winner...
Matt Roth for his event coverage. Well done!
BJJDenver - February 5, 2012
The Jorgensen and Natal critiques are in my opinion, pretty off base. Natal didn’t look great, but to say that he’s the worst fighter in the UFC Middleweight Division is a huge over-exaggeration. There are guys on two fight or more losing streaks like Dustin Jacoby Red Schafer, and Steve Cantwell in that division. I can see Natal being able to beat those guys I named, and probably some lower and even mid-tier guys in the division. He was taking Kiuper down a lot, and while his striking is sloppy, it did hit its mark a lot of times.
With Jorgensen, he’s fighting a fighter with huge momentum and technical skill in Barao. Barao is a high level BJJ blackbelt, and Jorgensen had a tough time getting his hands on Barao through grappling/wrestling. I don’t see how one can expect him to land a guillotine on such a high level fighter like Barao. He fought the better fighter tonight, that’s all. I think a move to 125, if he can cut to it, may be in his future as Cruz and Barao were noticeably bigger than him.
chrisbboy82 - February 5, 2012
awesome primetime hyping people up for a boring ass fight that I feel DIAZ won
Don’t agree go look at what the fighters are saying. The main issue with this is you hype these guys as monsters and warriors. Cold blooded and here to fight. What we got was some scared to lose a match a game. If that is what this is just say it if it was another fighter not condit I wouldn’t be so damn disappointed. For godsakes werdum came to FIGHT even to the last minute he was moving forward and attacking against a guy with a ridic chin and with enough firepower to change the fight.
Is anyone here now amped for Condit vs GSP? I came into this sport to watch peoples wills break and to see the pure strength in another persons will to persevere in situations where most wouldn’t. Not to see a point match. Where was this “gameness”. People are mad because we got a product we didn’t really order or want.
Papercut Elbow - February 5, 2012 via iPhone app
can't agree more
where was the “beat the snot out of each other” and the “they’ll have to carry me out of the cage”. Condit won, but he’s tarnished his rep as a Natural Born
KillerPointfightertigerlee - February 5, 2012
Diaz is the true loser
How Diaz isn’t listed as a loser is beyond me. He proved once Condit avoided his “backing a fighter down” strategy, his only recourse is to taunt like a rebellious youth and throw pointless slaps. He had nothing to throw at Condit that would cause meaningful damage despite having 5 rounds to come up with something (other than taking his back when it was too little, too late). He lost, plain and simple, and post fight he handled it like a loser as well. Hope you Diaz fans can continue to nut hug even after your hero quit like a b****. Well done Carlos!
cal_dude7 - February 5, 2012
and on and on and on
tigerlee - February 5, 2012
Condit fought the perfect fight to beat Diaz.
A lesser fighter would have been KO’d from some of those kicks to the face Condit landed. I thought his kicking looked OUTSTANDING. Like as good as i’ve seen any fighter use their kicks anytime recently. He put to together some beautiful kicking combos. His nick name should be “The Natural Born Kicker” he was looking so good with those kicks.
J_Maddux - February 5, 2012
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