If that was Carlos Condit’s final fight, he left a lasting impression

Lawler caught Condit off balance with a solid blow in the second round, but other than that appeared to be playing catch up in the final two rounds of the fight. For Lawler to win the fight, he will need to control the distance.

Lawler now improves to 20-7 and it was his second successful title defense and his 5th straight victory in the octagon while Condit now falls to 30-9. In the end, the split-decision nod went to the champion, Lawler, who kept the welterweight belt around his waist. Every competitor put on a great show and gave us viewers our money’s worth, but it’s the main event that will linger in our memories and keep us talking for years to come.

He’s said in the past that UFC fights should be scored like PRIDE where judges score it based on the whole fight, with emphasis on the last round, rather than a round-by-round basis.

“I thought there was a good chance I was ahead”, Condit said. I go through different phases where there’s times of self-doubt, but when the bell rings and it’s time to throw down and I get another opponent in my face, I just go to work my best. Per Marrocco, he said: “I think so”.

The story of rounds 3 and 4 was Condit battering Lawler at range and using a diverse striking attack to flummox the champion.

The Natural Born Killer was at his unpredictable best as he pulled out a string of innovative combos to land a majority of the strikes, yet, a final flurry from Ruthless – that nearly floored Condit – tipped the judges’ decision in favor of Lawler. Condit, meanwhile, returned from a lengthy injury absence in May to stop former title challenger Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 67.

Condit’s fourth round output had Lawler damaged badly, as he out-struck him 48-6 with a flurry after flurry, pressuring the champion and making it seem fairly clear that Lawler needed a finish in the fifth to win.

It may only be January, but this was a definite contender for 2016 fight of the year.

“I don’t really play those games”, Lawler said. “I fight and usually it turns out well for me”. But if he does decide to stick around, Condit will either have to fill his time with so-called “legacy fights”, against fellow veterans, or, hope that Saturday’s performance is enough to earn him a rematch ahead of Hendricks and Woodley.

After the fight, Miocic (14-2) called out UFC president Dana White to give him a title shot against the victor between the Fabricio Werdum-Cain Velasquez heavyweight title clash in February. There were those that felt Lorenz Larkin had done enough to pip Albert Tumenov, but the Russian secured the win via a split-verdict as well.