WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit (22-4) has suffered a hand and wrist injury and was forced to withdraw from his bout against number one contender Brock Larson at WEC 39 on March 1 as reported on the WEC official website.
In addition, Five Ounces of Pain is reporting that Larson is also injured, prompting Zuffa to consider scrapping the weight class altogether rather than find a replacement bout, effectively sending Condit, Larson and a host of other 170-pounders to the land of the UFC.
The report also puts "The Natural Born Killer" at UFC Fight Night 18 against Martin Kampmann on April 1.
The potential dissolution of the welterweight division wouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering the organization has already made plans to dispose of the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions. If and when it were to happen, all that would remain in the WEC are the lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight classes.
It helps that Condit has essentially cleared out the 170-pound division, including a previous submission win over Larson back in August of 2007. In fact it's a move that Condit himself predicted following the Miura fight:
"If I fight those [UFC] guys, it will be as the WEC champion…. There are a lot of tough guys – a lot of them, believe me – but you just have to fight whoever they tell you to fight. I’m proud to be the WEC champion and whoever I fight, whenever I fight, wherever I fight, I’ll do it as the WEC champion."
Condit has bested several tough opponents throughout his six-year professional mixed martial arts career, including Frank Trigg, Carlo Prater, Renato Verissimo, John Alessio and many others. The 24-year-old fighter out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is widely considered to be among the top welterweights in the world and has not dropped a bout in more than two years.
His last fight came at WEC 35 against Hiromitsu Miura back in August. Condit successfully defended his title with a fourth round technical knockout in what was widely considered one of the best fights of 2008.
Condit would have his work cut out for him against the new-look Kampmann, and if he manages to best "The Hitman," there awaits a plethora of experienced welterweights that would love nothing more than to spoil his quest for UFC gold.
Whatever the outcome, it certainly would be fun to watch.
To check out the latest UFC Fight Night 18 fight card and rumors click here.