After watching UFC 195, last Saturday, I came away with one major conclusion. Carlos Condit can take a punch better than anyone in the history of MMA. Really and truly. Robbie Lawler hit Condit with his best shots and Condit just kept coming. It was like something out of a zombie movie. Condit would not go down no matter what Lawler did.
Sure, there were other impressive performances from Stipe Miocic, Dustin Poirier, Brian Ortega, and Michael McDonald, on the UFC 195 card. The judging throughout the card could easily be argued and debated for hours. But the most enduring takeaway from the show was the epic performance that Condit put on.
Just like in his other 38 previous MMA bouts, he took his opponent’s best shots and did not seem to care. Throughout his entire MMA career, Condit has never been knocked out. Not once. Even more impressive, Condit has been fighting the greatest fighters in the world for nearly ten years. It’s a cliché, but the man’s chin is made of granite.
It seems nearly impossible that knockout artists like Lawler, Johny Hendricks, Martin Kampmann, Thiago Alves, Nick Diaz, and Dan Hardy could never put Condit down. Combined, these six men have 73 wins by KO/TKO in their careers. They are amongst the greatest strikers in welterweight history. Yet, none of them can claim Condit as an unconscious victim.
Other Condit opponents like Frank Trigg, George St. Pierre, and Jake Shields primarily use grappling in their fights, but also have numerous KO and TKO victories on their resumes. Again, Condit is not one of them though.
Granted Condit is a crafty, elusive fighter who is excellent at using his range and kicks to maintain distance, but he has gotten hit and hit hard one many occasions. Yet, no one can knock him out. It is really amazing.
For the last ten years Condit has fought the most elite fighters in the world and been able to take big shots without going to sleep. I cannot think of another fighter who has fought at his level without any knockout losses. At some point in their careers, all of the greatest fighters in MMA have lost by KO or TKO. St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, Anderson Silva, Chuck Liddell, Fedor Emelianenko, Jose Aldo, Ronda Rousey. They all get clipped eventually. But not Condit, he just keeps going and going.
Condit has been around a loooong time. He has fought in MMA bouts 39 times, usually against the best of the best, and has never gone down. I don’t know how and I don’t why, but it’s truly impressive and something that should be talked about more.
Only time will tell, if Condit’s unbreakable chin is good for his long term health. Taking repeated shots to the head, from trained killers, for a decade, does not sound like a great idea, but his ability to withstand punishment is unparalleled in the history of MMA. With his talk of impending retirement, only Condit truly knows how his body is holding up, but UFC 195 proved once again that, on the surface, the man is truly invincible.
Yeah, I often wonder if cumulative head trauma will prove worse than getting syarched a couple times.
He certainly does have the best chin; he is likely fucked when he gets around 50 and will be unable to remember what he had for breakfast.