Defend or unify? Georges St. Pierre's recovery timetable may dictate Carlos Condit's next fight

I think it's safe to assume that the winner of Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger, who battle tonight (Feb. 15, 2012) at the UFC on FUEL TV event in Omaha, Nebraska, will be asking for a welterweight title shot during the promotion's post-fight press conference.

They may not get it.

That's because Carlos Condit, who was crowned division Interim Champion with a five round unanimous decision win over Nick Diaz at UFC 143, hasn't yet decided if he's willing to put that temporary strap on the line. At least not until he hears from Georges St. Pierre, who may or may not be in a "Rush" to return from knee surgery.

If St. Pierre needs until November or December to get back into fighting shape, "The Natural Born Killer" may be willing to accept a mid-year fight to keep the 170-pound contender's pool from overflowing. However, if GSP is ready ahead of schedule, fans could be looking at a title unification bout before anyone else gets their turn.

Condit explains his position to Ben Fowlkes of MMA Fighting, after the jump.

"Honestly, it depends on the recovery timeline for Georges St-Pierre. If he’s going to be out until November [or] December, then I might consider taking another fight in the meantime just because the timing would work out. I’d have three or four months to train for something mid-year, and then three or four months to train for Georges St-Pierre at the end of the year. If he’s going to be back a little sooner, I’d probably just wait."

Condit was expected to rematch Diaz for the right to face St. Pierre, but the fiery Stockton slugger was popped for marijuana metabolites in his post-fight drug test and has since been weed-ed out of the 170-pound title chase.

While the winner of "Sanchez vs. Ellenberger" is a likely contender, so too, is the winner of Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks, who throw hands at the UFC on FOX 3 card in just a few months.

In short, there's a lot of clutter to straighten out in this division to get a clearer picture of who is fighting whom -- and when they're going to do it.

Mr. St. Pierre, I have Joe Silva on line one ...