We talk all the time about how scorecards don’t always present an accurate picture of how tense and close a fight actually was, and this is one of those instances, because while two judges awarded St-Pierre a clean sweep of the scorecards, this was anything but an easy fight for the returning French-Canadian icon.
This was St-Pierre’s first fight back after suffering a torn ACL in the latter part of 2011, while Condit came in having claimed the interim title in a contentious, competitive bout with Nick Diaz earlier in the year. It was the first time in some time that there were real doubts about the champion’s ability to retain his title, as he hadn’t fought in more than 18 months and was coming off a major surgery, while Condit was in the midst of a five-fight winning streak.
Dave & Busters Unviels Exclusive UFC Challenge Game
St-Pierre controlled the action with his wrestling, but Condit had the biggest individual moment of the fight, dropping the champion with a head kick in the third round that momentarily had everyone (me included) holding their breath, wondering if a new champion was about to be crowned. St-Pierre recovered and resumed his wrestling-based attack, doing well to neutralize the submission attempts and shifty guard of Condit throughout, ultimately securing another victory and successful title defense.
As much as this was another good win for “GSP,” it also was emblematic of who Condit was as a competitor — game ’til the end, right there the whole way, barely a half-step behind the absolute best in the business across multiple eras.
