Carlos Condit vs. Tyron Woodley will be UFC 171’s co-main event
Welterweight stakes will be high when the UFC returns to Dallas in March.
UFC 171 already had the vacant 170-pound title on the line in a main event between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler when the UFC announced a welterweight bout between former interim champ Carlos Condit and Tyron Woodley.
Now that Condit (29-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) vs. Woodley (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) fight will be the card’s co-main event. UFC President Dana White announced the news on Friday, elevating the status of a fight that already was a given for the main card.
UFC 171 takes place March 15 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1. It’s possible that the Condit-Woodley winner could be in line to fight the Hendricks-Lawler winner, who will be the UFC’s new welterweight champion now that Georges St-Pierre has vacated the belt to take a leave from the sport.
Condit is ranked No. 3, while Woodley is an Honorable Mention in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings.
Condit had been booked for a fight against No. 9 Matt Brown at UFC on FOX 9 earlier this month, but a Brown injury knocked that fight from the card. White initially wanted Condit in a fight with a higher-ranked opponent than Woodley, and even tried to make a rematch with him and Nick Diaz – a fight that Diaz turned down.
But eventually, he relented when Woodley bombarded him with text messages asking him for the Condit fight.
Woodley came to the UFC after a long run in Strikeforce. He started his career 10-0, including 8-0 in Strikeforce to get to a shot at the vacant welterweight title in that promotion. But he was stopped by Nate Marquardt in the fourth round. He found quick success in the UFC when he moved over, knocking out Jay Hieron in just 36 seconds at UFC 156.
But at UFC 161, he suffered a controversial split-decision loss to Jake Shields in Canada – a fight that many observers saw in his favor. Five weeks ago, though, he bounced back in a big way with a “Knockout of the Night†win over Josh Koscheck at UFC 167 in Las Vegas.
Condit recently got back on the winning track by avenging a loss to Martin Kampmann in the main event of UFC Fight Night 27. Before that, he dropped a unanimous decision to Hendricks at UFC 158 in Montreal. That fight was his bid to bounce back from a title unification fight loss to St-Pierre at UFC 154.
Condit has won post-fight bonus awards in six of his past seven bouts. The one that he didn’t, he captured the interim title against Diaz while St-Pierre was on the shelf with a knee injury. In that stretch, he has four “Fight of the Night†wins and a pair of “Knockout of the Night†bonuses.
The UFC 171 card includes:
Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler - for vacant welterweight title
Carlos Condit vs. Tyron Woodley
Hector Lombard vs. Jake Shields
Myles Jury vs. Diego Sanchez
Ovince St. Preux vs. Thiago Silva
Robert McDaniel vs. Tor Troeng
Alex Garcia vs. Sean Spencer
Will Campuzano vs. Darrell Montague
