UFC Fight Island 7 In-Depth: A Final Chase For Glory?

Looking passed the usual ranking implications, predictions, and week-to-week momentum shifts.

There are some quality match ups throughout the UFC Fight Island 7 event. Most notably, the main event between Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar will deliver, and there are title implications on the line, even if they’re less than immediate. However, perhaps no fight makes more sense than Carlos Condit vs. Matt Brown.

Now, that’s not to say it’s the best fight on the card. The bout was first booked in 2013, eight years ago, a true lifetime in combat sports where champions can rise and fall in a few short months. Back then, Brown was in the midst of the best win streak of his career, searching for a title shot. Condit was just two fights removed from battling “GSP,” and he’d most recently beaten Martin Kampmann into retirement.

Times have changed. Brown has lost three of his last five, all via knockout, an unhealthy sign for a famously durable fighter. Condit actually won his most recent bout, but doing so allowed him to avoid an unprecedented six-fight losing streak. Simply put, there is no longer anything on the line for the Welterweight division.

Does it matter? Does it make the bout unworthy of it’s co-main event position or cheapen it? Not at all, and that’s a credit to Condit, Brown, and the nature of their battle.

“The Natural Born Killer” vs. “The Immortal.” It does not get more appropriate. Condit is no longer the wild savage who tore up opponents from his back and finished everyone, nor is Brown able to swallow power punches like Tic Tacs with immunity to their effects. Yet, the promise of great violence and a tremendous fight is still there.

Even without his infamous bloodlust — or at least, carrying a smaller amount — Condit is not the type to go down quietly. If shoved into a corner, Condit is going to come out slinging elbows. We know Brown will push him there. Brown fully believes his “Immortal” moniker and fights with a true disdain for his own mortality, challenging his foes to try to kill him.

In their declined state, there are plenty of uninteresting match ups for either man. Put Condit opposite a smothering wrestler, and the result will be depressing. Brown proved last time out that he can provide a fun fight opposite up-and-comer sluggers, but those match ups are unlikely to end well, and the odds only grow worse each day as he progresses past 40 years of age.

With the two seemingly approaching retirement, that makes the fight special. Against most any other opponent, Brown and Condit would be an afterthought, card filler passed their “Best By” date. Opposite one another, the two blood-letters have a chance to remind fans of their greatness and savagery, to achieve something glorious in the Octagon one more time.

We should still give a sh*t about Matt Brown and Carlos Condit in 2021, provided they’re fighting each other.