UFC 171: Condit vs. Woodley

Carlos Condit (29-7) vs. Tyron Woodley (12-2)

Carlos Condit looks to earn a future championship bout as he goes up against the always dangerous Tyron Woodley at UFC 171 in Dallas on Saturday night.

Condit is one of the elite fighters in the UFC, and bounced back from a two-match losing skid with a knockout victory against Martin Kampmann on Aug. 28. His two losses were by unanimous decision to Johny Hendricks and Georges St-Pierre, two of the very best fighters in the sport. Now with St-Pierre retiring, Condit should be next in line to fight whoever wins Saturday's welterweight title bout between Hendricks and Robbie Lawler. Condit has the ability to knock his opponent out, but is just as likely to submit his opponent. This versatility is very rare for a fighter in this sport, making him extremely dangerous to gameplan for. But to get another title shot, he will have to defeat a fighter in Woodley that can also win a match in many different ways. Woodley is coming off a knockout victory over Josh Koscheck, who he knocked out in the first round at UFC 167 on Nov. 16. Woodley is a big-time athlete that has the ability to wear his opponent out in the end of the fights. But with a potential title fight at stake, look for CONDIT to come out and dominate Woodley.

Condit has 29 victories in his career, and has shown the ability to win in many different ways. He has 14 wins by knockout, while also recording 13 by submission and two by decision. "The Natural Born Killer" has now won six of his past eight fights, dominating Kampmann in his most recent bout with a striking advantage of 100-35. The 29-year-old Condit will have a striking advantage in this match too, averaging 3.24 significant strikes per minute compared to Woodley's 2.71 significant strikes per minute. He is also the better strike defender (58%) compared to Woodley (52%). In addition to a whopping five-inch height advantage over his Saturday opponent, another edge for the 6-foot-2 Condit is that he has been in big matches in his career. In that loss to St.-Pierre, he was competing for the welterweight belt, and he will be hungry to get back to that point in his career. If he is able to come out and take control of this fight early, Condit should have no problem winning. However, if he allows Woodley to get into some rhythm in the first round, Woodley has the athleticism and the physical tools to pull off the upset.

Of his 12 career victories, "The Chosen One" Woodley has an even distribution of wins between knockouts, submissions and decisions, earning four wins by each method. But of his eight finishes, seven have occurred in the first round. That includes his domination in his last match against Koscheck, showing that he also has the ability to knock out his opponent quickly. While he does not land as many strikes as Condit, he is significantly more accurate when he throws his punches (57% accuracy, compared to 40% for Condit). The 31-year-old St. Louis native also has a major advantage when it comes to grappling, averaging 2.18 takedowns compared to just 0.56 takedowns for Condit. Woodley is terrific defending against the takedown, defending 94% of his opponents' takedown attempts, compared to 41% for his opponent. He has the athleticism and strength to compete with Condit, but has to be on the lookout for Condit trying to end this match with one punch. If Woodley is able to take this match into the later rounds, then he has a chance to send an emphatic message to the rest of the UFC.