A welterweight bout between former two-division UFC champ “The Prodigy” B.J. Penn and final WEC Welterweight Champion “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit is in the works for October. While not set, the tentative fight could take place at UFC 137 on October 29th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Both Penn and Condit had publicly campaigned for the matchup on Twitter earlier this week. Penn was previously been set to rematch Jon Fitch at UFC 132, but injuries forced the fight’s cancellation. Instead, Penn may now face the surging Condit, who has won four straight fights inside the Octagon.
Penn (16-7-2) dropped back down to the lightweight division in 2007 after suffering consecutive defeats against rivals Matt Hughes and Georges “Rush” St. Pierre, and went on to capture the UFC Lightweight Championship in 2008. He defended the title three times before losing the belt to current champion Frankie “The Answer” Edgar at UFC 112. A rematch with Edgar ended in an even more lopsided defeat for Penn, but he rebounded with a 21-second knockout of Hughes in a rubber match. Most recently, he fought Jon Fitch to a contentious Draw in February.
Condit (27-5-0), unlike Penn, has enjoyed great success in recent bouts and is all but undefeated inside the Octagon. His lone blemish in five UFC appearances came in his promotional debut; a razor-thin Split Decision loss to Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann. Since then, Condit has racked up four straight wins over formidable opposition, including a one-punch knockout of former title challenger Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy. Earlier this month, he handed South Korea’s Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim his first defeat in dominant fashion at UFC 132.
While Penn’s ground game and technical boxing have brought him championships in the past, he has struggled in recent outings and a victory for Condit would likely set up the Albuquerque native for a title shot in the near future. All but one of Condit’s wins have come by stoppage, with an even split of 13 knockouts and submissions apiece.
Should the bout take place at UFC 137, it will be part of the same card where the UFC Welterweight Championship will be up for grabs. Champion Georges St. Pierre meets Strikeforce ace Nick Diaz in the night’s main event.
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)