Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Interim Champion, Carlos Condit, got back into the win column on Wednesday night with a "Fight of the Night" performance against Martin Kampmann in the main event of UFC Fight Night 27.
See the full results and play-by-play of "Condit vs. Kampmann 2" right here.
"The Natural Born Killer" shot down "The Hitman" in the fourth round of their 170-pound affair, which took center stage at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, and marked a rematch from their 2009 scrap in Condit's Octagon debut.
Following his victory in "Brew City," which snapped a two-fight skid, Condit told Jon Anik in his post-fight interview that he would like to challenge Georges St. Pierre or Johny Hendricks, who collide for the welterweight title in the main event of UFC 167, scheduled for Nov. 16 in Las Vegas.
Again.
Both "Rush" and "Bigg Rigg" are responsible for Condit's previous two losses. True, the judges were tasked with deciding who was the better man on fight night, but outside of a head kick at UFC 154 -- and some killer instinct at UFC 158 -- his performances were not enough to have fans screaming for more in a span of just eight months.
Was his bloody beatdown of Kampmann impressive?
Absolutely, but he hasn't had a showing like that in over two years, when he plastered Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 132 back in 2011. Sandwiched between the "Stun Gun" win and his efforts at UFC Fight Night 27 are a pair of losses and a game of keep-away against Nick Diaz.
It's just not enough.
If the division had emptied itself of contenders, we might be more forgiving when it came to immediate rematches. But Rory MacDonald and Demian Maia have both been climbing the charts in recent months and would probably have a better case for gold digging than Condit.
Then again, "Ares" is still hellbent on getting one back from "The Natural Born Killer," after a third-round technical knockout loss at UFC 115 looked to rob him of what appeared to be a unanimous decision win. Then again, that all depends on how well he performs against Robbie Lawler.
And Maia has to first dispose of Jake Shields.
The next three in line, according to the "official" UFC rankings (see them here), are Jake Ellenberger, Kampmann and Diaz. Since Condit owns wins over all three, don't expect him to be moving down, just as he's not ready to move back up.
He's kinda stuck somewhere in the middle.
Until the rest of the top-heavy division sorts itself out over the next few months, there may not be anywhere for him to go, unless Condit is eager to stay busy and take on a hungry up-and-comer looking to make a name for himself. Kind of like he did against MacDonald.
I guess if we're going to start up with rematches, I suppose that's the one I'm pining to see.