With Lawler scrapped from UFC 193, Carlos Condit hopes to keep spot in title fight

Carlos Condit has dealt with both postponed and canceled UFC title fights during his career. That’s why he said he’s not shaken up about Robbie Lawler’s withdrawal from their welterweight title bout at UFC 193.

Condit (30-8 MMA, 7-4 UFC) was expected to challenge Lawler (26-10 MMA, 11-4 UFC) for the 170-pound title in the main event of the Nov. 14 fight card at the 70,000-seat Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Lawler, though, suffered a thumb injury and the contest was scrapped.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was then announced as the new UFC 193 headliner. She meets Holly Holm in the pay-per-view main event following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Condit was a guest on AXS TV’s “Inside MMA” shortly after the news broke and expressed disappointment in the situation. He also said, however, that he’s taking the news in stride.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” Condit said. “This is something that I have been through before and it’s really just the nature of the sport.”

Condit was scheduled to fight former UFC champ Georges St-Pierre for the title at UFC 137 in October 2011. St-Pierre was forced out of the contest due to injury and the bout was postponed. Instead of getting his title shot at a later date, though, Nick Diaz was selected as an opponent for “Rush.”

“The Natural Born Killer” then was booked for an interim title bout against Diaz at UFC 143 when St-Pierre suffered yet another knee injury. Condit defeated Diaz by unanimous decision and moved on to a championship unification match with St-Pierre at UFC 154, a fight he lost by unanimous decision.

Condit has experienced the risks of waiting for a title shot to come to fruition. Although Lawler’s anticipated return date is unknown, Condit said he will continue to train in order to prepare for any opportunities that may arise.

“At this point, no, I’m not fighting on the same card, and no, I have not been offered any other opponents,” Condit said. “Another opportunity might come my way, and either way, I need to stay in shape – not just in case of an opportunity, but for my sanity. Training is my therapy.”

If Condit is eager to compete, there could be welterweight matchups on the horizon that could present a chance to step in as a replacement. Ranked fighters such as Johny Hendricks, Tyron Woodley, Matt Brown, Kelvin Gastelum, Dong Hyun Kim and Thiago Alves are all scheduled for the coming months.

Condit said he hasn’t been informed of a potential timeline to reschedule a matchup with Lawler. He did, however, confirm that challenging for the UFC title remains his primary goal.

“We don’t really have a timeline at this point on his return, but we’ll see,” Condit said. “If it’s plausible for that to be my next fight, if he heals up in a decent amount of time, of course I’d like to fight him. I was really, really excited for that matchup.”

For more on UFC 193, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.