Nick Diaz vs Carlos Condit will save us after UFC on FOX 2 dud

This past Saturday night (Jan. 28, 2012), the world's largest fight promotion brought an event to the United Center that was long on talent but short on excitement. Indeed, all three fights broadcasted on the network went to decision, including the main event bout between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis that dragged on for 25 mostly painstaking minutes.

It's not necessarily that the fights were terrible so much as they simply failed to deliver decent spurts of satisfying commotion. There was far too much stop and start, swing and miss, shoot and reset.

Rashad Evans, Phil Davis, Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Chris Weidman and Demian Maia are all great fighters capable of incredible feats, as they've all shown in the past. But when paired off against each other, they made for television viewing that was monotonous to say the least.

Thank the MMA gods for UFC 143 and, more specifically, Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit

This Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, two of the very best scrappers on Earth will get together inside the Octagon to exchange fists, knees, kicks, elbows, maybe even submissions but more than likely all of the above.

In short, they're going to fight and it's going to be freaking awesome.

That's what makes them so appealing. This bout has been sold as a match-up of polar opposite characters, Diaz being kind of a crazy thug from the mean streets of Stockton while Condit is the mild-mannered, blue collar hard worker type who just gets the job done. And hey, normally I'm totally on board with telling a compelling story and making fans care about the two men before they engage in combat, which is what UFC is currently doing with its Primetime series.

But you know what? Who gives a shit.

This is Nick Diaz, a guy who has never actually had a boring fight. Even the doctor was entertained when he was fighting to get out of his mother's womb to unleash his brand of violence on the world. The same can be said for Condit, who goes by the moniker "The Natural Born Killer" for a reason.

This one has all the makings of a classic, a battle for the ages. Ticket sales are still slow despite the event taking place in days and maybe the show does poor numbers at the box office but for once I'm finally going to kick back, relax and just enjoy the spectacle of two men who consistently bring that hot fire.

Will we see a knockout? Maybe. A submission? Possibly. A great fight between even better fighters?

Damn skippy.