Rehab addict? UFC 219's Neil Magny shrugs off gatekeeper role against Carlos Condit

LAS VEGAS – Sometimes, it seems like welterweight Neil Magny gets all the rehab projects.

There’s Hector Lombard, coming off a positive drug test. Ex-champ Johny Hendricks, trying to arrest a fall from the rankings. Ex-champ Rafael dos Anjos, trying to prove he’s a viable welterweight contender.

Now, there’s former interim champ Carlos Condit(30-10 MMA, 7-6 UFC), who’s returning from a year-plus layoff in which he contemplated retirement.

Magny (19-6 MMA, 12-5 UFC) has gotten a quite a few chances to spoil comeback plans. But he doesn’t read too much into his opposition as of late.

“Not at all,” he told MMAjunkie in advance of his meeting with Condit in the pay-per-view main-card opener of UFC 219, which takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “As much as it’s a test for Carlos Condit, it’s a test for me. I get to go up against another former world champion and really test myself.

“Gold is what I’m after. If I can hang with these guys that are former world champions, I know I can hang with guys that are current champions. So, I look at it as as big a test for me as it is for him.”

Magny isn’t complaining at all that the test is against Condit, a guy he’s been following since a title reign in the now-defunct WEC promotion.

“For me, it was a guy I always looked up to,” Magny said. “As my career progressed, and I got to the point where I was in the top 10, he was one of the guys I was like, ‘Oh, wow, what if I get to fight this guy now?'”

On Saturday, that dream becomes a reality. It won’t change Magny’s approach to his work in the cage, though. As much as Magny looks up to his opponent, he won’t have any trouble punching forward when the bell rings.

For more on UFC 219, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.