11 years ago today, Carlos Condit defeated Nick Diaz to become the Interim UFC Welterweight Champion.
It has been 11 years since Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz competed for the interim welterweight championship in the main event of UFC 143, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Condit defeated Diaz in the main event via unanimous decision to win the interim welterweight championship after all the judges scored the bout 49-46, 49-46, and 48-47 in his favor. The event did fairly well as it generated 400,000 pay-per-view buys.
Feb4.2012
11 years ago today,
Carlos Condit defeated Nick Diaz to become the Interim UFC Welterweight Champion. https://t.co/eka7k9nN0n
It was a tactical back-and-forth fight and as a result, many felt as though the Stockton native should have been awarded the decision. Several UFC fighters that took to Twitter to share their opinion that they felt Diaz was robbed.
Ronda Rousey tweeted:
"If I wanted to see a man run for 25 minutes I'd go to a track meet. Diaz is the real champ, what a bulls*t fight"
If I wanted to see a man run for 25 minutes I'd go to a track meet. Diaz is the real champ, what a bullshit fight
'The Natural Born Killer' came into the fight riding an impressive 4-fight winning streak that included wins over top welterweight contenders including Rory MacDonald and Dong Hyun Kim.
Diaz, on the other hand, came into the bout riding a winning streak that lasted 5 years and saw him win the Strikeforce welterweight championship and defeat the likes of Frank Shamrock, Paul Daley, and B.J. Penn.
Both fighters achieved a great deal of success outside the UFC as Condit was a former WEC welterweight champion and had three successful title defenses, while Diaz was the longest reigning Strikeforce welterweight champion.
Carlos Condit challenged Georges St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight championship
#UFC154: Georges St-Pierre def. Carlos Condit #FightPosterFriday #UFC200 https://t.co/IbtVgLMjOI
By winning the interim welterweight championship against Nick Diaz at UFC 143, it meant that Carlos Condit earned an opportunity to challenge then welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre to unify the titles.
'The Natural Born Killer' received his opportunity to fight 'Rush' in a unification bout at UFC 154, which took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It looked like he was closing in on a title win after dropping St-Pierre with a head-kick in the third round, but the champion regrouped and ended up winning the fight via unanimous decision.
Unfortunately for 'The Natural Born Killer', he was also unsuccessful in his second attempt at becoming welterweight champion as he lost a split decision to then champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 195.