Carlos Condit vs. Thiago Alves: What We Learned from UFC Fight Night 67 Tilt

UFC Fight Night 67 headliners Carlos Condit and Thiago Alves have had their recent careers defined by injuries.

Condit missed out on a huge opportunity to stake a claim for a title shot in the post-Georges St-Pierre welterweight division when he lost to Tyron Woodley at UFC 171 because of a knee injury that would keep him out of the cage for a year. Alves, on the other hand, was one of the top welterweights in the sport in 2008 but has spent much of the last seven years nursing various strains, tweaks and tears in every muscle, ligament and joint imaginable.

It was a fight with a great deal on the line for both men, who needed to make up for a great deal of lost time.

Things started off with a slow, methodical first round. Alves threw his signature leg kicks. Condit looked for big hits from the outside.

Then came the second round.

NBK—that's Condit for those who didn't catch his Shawn Michaels-inspired rebranding—landed a gorgeously timed standing left elbow that rocked Alves early. His nose was badly broken, but Condit lived up to his nickname, showing no mercy as he delivered heaps of punishment to his wounded foe.

Alves lasted until the bell, but the ringside doctor was not keen on his chances of surviving another round. The fight was called on the stool, with Condit being officially going down as the winner at 5:00 of Round 2 via TKO.

So what did we learn from this bout?

For Alves, it was confirmation of something we already suspected. While he is a devastatingly heavy hitter, he just doesn't seem to be able to hack it against today's top welterweights.

It might be the injuries taking their toll, or it might just be the natural evolution of the division. Either way, with his loss to Condit and the beating he took from Jordan Mein, it would be hard to favor him against anybody in the Top 20 of the welterweight division—never mind the Top 10.

And what of Condit?

The former WEC welterweight champ has always been the perfect blend of technical brilliance and pure, brutish violence. Knee injuries, however, can be a tricky thing and can truly end the careers of men such as Condit, whose greatest skill has always been his ability to instantly capitalize on a slight opening.

In the opening minutes of the fight, it seemed as though he might have gone the way of King Mo Lawal, who has been struggling for years to recover from his own knee troubles. Condit was tentative. Too tentative, it seemed.

The questions started swirling. Had he lost a step? Was he overly concerned about his bad knee? Was this the beginning of the end?

Nope, nay and nein. While it took a few uneventful minutes, when Alves' hands were a bit too wide apart, the NBK who demolished Dong Hyun Kim and mauled Dan Hardy showed up with an accurate, devastating and unconventional strike. And it was glorious.

So what did we learn? Carlos Condit is back, folks. And that's just great.

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