Carlos Condit Should Fight Before UFC 154

I enjoy UFC Primetime and UFC Countdown as much as anyone. These stalwarts of UFC pre-fight hype offer special access to fighters and their teams that is not so easy to come by for all us little people out there.

And yet, these shows have a lot in common with other reality-type programming, in that it often runs a deficit on actual reality. Footage is carefully edited, messages carefully controlled. I'm not sure it's as egregious as Kobe Doin' Work, but I get the distinct impression that fighters—especially those with any semblance of media savvy—reveal exactly what they mean to, and no more.

When Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz lived with the Primetime cameras in their run-up to UFC 143 (where, as you know, Condit defeated Diaz to capture the interim welterweight strap), Condit seemed determined to win the public relations war. When he wasn't going hard in the cage, there was "The Natural Born Killer" unwinding with some heavy weaponry down at the shooting range. Time and again, he was displaying a jagged edge for the producer.

"I'm coming to put your lights out," Condit said during the show. And I'd have the over/under on the number of times he referred to himself as a "warrior" at five.

Eventually, the actual fight happened. Condit was evasive. He stayed out of the pocket. I'm not here to exhume that dead horse, though I will say claims that he was out-and-out afraid to engage were not borne out by the numbers or the outcome of the fight.

Nevertheless, it opened Condit up to criticism that he wasn't doing his walking with quite as much enthusiasm as his talking. Soon after UFC 143, though, he had a chance to lower the volume. Most prominently, Jake Ellenberger, a scintillating new arrival on the welterweight division's title scene, waited in the wings for a chance at Condit.

Here was the interim champ's opportunity to defend what he'd earned, and display that warrior spirit he likes to talk about. He had an opportunity to show critics that no matter what they thought of his game plan, at the end of the day he was a fighter who lived to fight.

Condit did not take advantage of that opportunity.

Instead, once Diaz's failed drug test negated the chances for a quick rematch, he chose to wait for champion Georges St-Pierre to return from his injury. That's a ways away. At the moment, it looks slated to happen at UFC 154 in November.

Hey, I understand Condit's rationale. After all, how many title shots do you get? He surely understands the fleeting nature of success in this sport. He saw what happened to Rashad Evans.

I'm not saying it's a cowardly move, either. Carlos Condit is not a coward. He's in the wrong line of work for that. Waiting for GSP is the smart move.

But there's a flip side to that coin. Condit is 27. The argument that the fleeting nature of success should force Condit to wait for the big shot can also be used to prove the opposite. You only get so many big paydays. By waiting, Condit is losing one. Maybe two. And fans know that the nine-month delay in welterweight division title activities happened on Condit's watch.

Either way, Condit doesn't extol his smartness in those interviews. He extols his warrior spirit. Between the Diaz fight and this self-imposed exile, it's easy to wonder whether a warrior flag is quite so scary when it's flown so selectively.