Carlos Condit

Carlos Joseph Condit (born April 26, 1984) is an American former professional mixed martial artist.

He formerly competed in the Welterweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the former Interim UFC Welterweight Champion.

Condit formerly fought in the UFC's sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), where he was the final Welterweight Champion.

Condit has also competed for both Shootboxing and Pancrase in Japan.

Condit has launched business ventures, including a coffeeshop and a line of custom jeans with Los Angeles brand SENE.

Condit was born on April 26, 1984, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is of Austrian, German, Native American, and Mexican descent.

Condit's father, Brian, was the Chief of Staff for former New Mexico governor and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson.

Condit attended Cibola High School on Albuquerque's West Side.

He began wrestling at the age of nine and continued throughout high school, and started training in Gaidojutsu under Greg Jackson at fifteen.

Condit turned professional at eighteen years old, taking less than a minute to submit Nick Roscorta with a rear-naked choke in his debut in Juárez, Mexico, on September 6, 2002.

He also won his next four fights in the first round, with only one going past the one-minute mark, before tasting defeat for the first time, albeit under the shoot boxing ruleset, in his international debut.

He faced off with ninety-five fight veteran and Shoot Boxing World Tournament 2002 champion Andy Souwer in Tokyo, Japan on September 23, 2003, losing by technical knockout due to leg kicks with seventeen seconds left of the fight after being knocked down three times in the fifth and final round.

Returning to MMA, Condit continued his impressive run of form in the sport with a further three first round stoppage wins to go 8–0 before he was submitted with a Carlo Prater triangle choke inside the opening round in Albuquerque on September 11, 2004.

He rebounded from the loss with a four fight win streak and returned to Japan to fight in Pancrase, losing to Satoru Kitaoka via first round heel hook submission at Pancrase: Spiral 8 in Yokohama on October 2, 2005.

Following this, he had a stint in the Hawaii-based Rumble on the Rock promotion and defeated Ross Ebañez via TKO in his promotional debut before going on to compete in the ROTR Welterweight Tournament.

The tournament's quarter-finals were held on January 20, 2006, at Rumble on the Rock 8 where Condit recorded a seventeen-second TKO stoppage of Renato Verissimo.

The semis and the final both took place on the same night, April 21, 2006, at Rumble on the Rock 9 and Condit submitted Frank Trigg with a triangle armbar to book his place in the final against Jake Shields.

Going the distance for the first time in his career, Condit lost by unanimous decision.

Condit suffered a second consecutive loss in his next outing, submitting to a Pat Healy rear-naked choke in round three of their contest in Oakland, California, before making a return to Pancrase and defeating Koji Oishi via TKO in his sophomore appearance in the promotion.

He ended his tenure in Japan with a Kimura submission of Takuya Wada and a particularly violent stomp KO over Tatsunori Tanaka before returning stateside and joining the WEC.

Condit made his debut for the WEC on January 20, 2007, at WEC 25 where he defeated Kyle Jensen in the first round via submission (Rear Naked Choke).

Condit's second fight would be for the vacant WEC Welterweight Championship against John Alessio at WEC 26: Condit vs. Alessio.

Condit would win this fight in the second round, once again, by Rear Naked Choke and became the WEC Welterweight Champion.

Condit faced Brock Larson on August 5, 2007, at WEC 29.

Condit won the fight via first round submission (armbar).

Condit would next face Carlo Prater in a rematch on February 13, 2008, at WEC 32.

Condit defeated Prater via submission in the first round.

Condit faced Hiromitsu Miura on August 3, 2008, at WEC 35.

Condit won the back and forth fight via TKO in the fourth round, winning Fight of the Night honors.

A rematch with Brock Larson was briefly linked to WEC 39.

The pairing was scrapped as both fighters suffered injuries and were eventually rebooked with different opponents as they transferred to the UFC.

Condit would be the last WEC Welterweight Champion before the UFC dissolved the title and division.

Condit's record in the WEC ended at a perfect 5–0.

Condit would make the move to UFC after the WEC buyout and he made his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) organization.

He made his promotional debut on April 1, 2009, at UFC Fight Night 18 facing Martin Kampmann.

Condit lost the back and forth fight via split decision.

The fight was close enough that FightMetric ruled the bout a draw.

He was then scheduled to fight Chris Lytle on September 16, 2009, at UFC Fight Night 19, but Lytle had to drop out due to a knee injury.

UFC newcomer Jake Ellenberger would step up to replace Lytle.

Condit then defeated Ellenberger via split decision to get his first win in the UFC.