Carlos Condit still interested in fighting Matt Brown – if Brown can stay healthy

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Former UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit hasn’t given up on fighting Matt Brown. He just wants some assurances so he won’t be left out of a fight.

“If it came up, I’d be down,” Condit (30-11 MMA, 7-7 UFC) said prior to his bout with Alex Oliveira (18-4-1 MMA, 7-3-1 UFC) at UFC on FOX 29. “That’s a fight that would be fun, intriguing, (and) a lot of fan engagement.

“If it came about, and he could stay healthy – because the last one, I didn’t get a replacement.”

Condit was scheduled to face Brown (23-16 MMA, 14-10 UFC) at UFC on FOX 9 in 2013. The week prior to the fight, Brown injured his back and was forced to withdraw.

“The first time he got hurt, I was just out, and that sucked,” Condit continued. “But at least this time, I got a replacement.”

With two weeks until the event, the UFC was able to slot Oliveira into the event after Brown suffered a torn ACL on April Fool’s weekend.

Condit and Oliveira now meet in the FOX-televised co-headliner of Saturday’s UFC on FOX 29 event at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz.

Condit aims to relax and have fun in the octagon after a previous performance, against Magny, in which he admitted to feeling out of step. With three straight losses, the ex-champ isn’t thinking about belts or lofty goals. He simply wants to perform the way he knows he can.

“That’s really where my goals lie,” Condit said. “And with that, paychecks, f-ck yeah. But go out there, have fun, put on good performances, and continue to entertain.”

If all goes as planned, Condit will feel a lot more like himself in the midst of the octagon chaos. But he isn’t resting his sense of worth on the outcome of one fight, no matter how well he’s fared in his recent career.

“My personal confidence doesn’t pivot on this fight,” he said. “I put in the work. I’ve done everything I could do going into this fight. I’m going to go out there and do my thing, and I’m going to do my best.

“I expect to win, and I expect to put on a good performance. But if not, personally, I’m still confident. It’s not going to crush me. I’m more than just this.”

Whatever the outcome, Brown hasn’t given up on a fight yet.

“We’ll do it for sure when I’m back,” he wrote on Twitter.

For more on UFC on FOX 29, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.