Carlos Condit just went with his gut instinct when he decided to call it a career.
After more than 15 years and 46 professional fights, former UFC interim and WEC champion Condit (32-14 MMA, 9-10 UFC) announced his retirement last week. The 37-year-old walked away after a unanimous decision loss to Max Griffin at UFC 264, which snapped his two-fight winning streak.
“It was time,” Condit said on The MMA Hour. “For a lot of different reasons. After that last fight, I felt like I had put together a good camp, and I was just a step behind Max. I feel like I could really try to tweak things, and I could try to figure out what’s missing, what part of the formula isn’t working right now and then go and test it again and test it again, but that’s a tough thing to do. That’s a tough thing to do because ultimately I have to go and put myself on the firing line to see if what I’m doing is working. At a certain point there’s diminishing returns, so I think it’s time to move on.”
Just when it looked like Condit was having a career resurgence by stringing back-to-back wins over veterans Court McGee and Matt Brown, Condit explains that his setback against Griffin didn’t ignite the same fire that a loss usually does.
“I’d been leaving a hotel room after a loss and been p*ssed off and leaving all my gear in a real salty mood and basically, ‘I’m done with this sh*t,’” Condit said. “But this time was different. I wasn’t salty about it. I just felt like it was the right move. Probably about three weeks or a month ago, I called Dana and I let him know, so this thing has been coming down the pipe for a little while.”
“The Natural Born Killer” has thrilled fans with many memories. He captured titles in two major organizations and has highlight-reel finishes over the likes of Dan Hardy and Dong Hyun Kim. He also engaged in epic wars with Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler, but despite all these memorable moments, Condit’s back-to-back wins in Abu Dhabi have a special place in his heart.
“That’s really tough,” Condit said. “I’ve loved every f*cking second of it. The ups, the downs, all of it. If I had to pick a specific one, these last two fights that I won when we were out in Abu Dhabi and really just living in this surreal atmosphere. My coaches are all my really good friends, and we had the opportunity to go to this crazy nice place and fight, that was a lot of fun. But I have 19, almost 20 years worth of memories so it would be really hard to pinpoint it.”
Carlos Condit simply felt it was time to retire: ‘At a certain point there’s diminishing returns’
