UFC on ABC 1 co-main event
Fight Island in Abu Dhabi (UAE) will host the first UFC event of 2021 this coming Saturday night. It will also be the promotion’s first tournament in collaboration with the American television network ABC, so the event will be called UFC on ABC 1. This show is also interesting in that the audience will finally be able to watch UFC fights live, about 2000 fans will be present at Etihad Arena” January 16th.
In the co-main bout, we’re in for a welterweight matchup between two now unclaimed veterans, Condit and Brown.
Condit fought twice for the UFC title during his career, became the interim UFC champion and owned the belt of the prestigious WEC welterweight promotion. However, the best years of the 36-year-old Natural Born Killer are long gone. In October 2020, Condit returned after a pause of almost two years to beat Kurt McGee on the scorecards and thereby break the black streak – Carlos could not win for three years. During this period, Condit lost all five fights: to Robbie Lawler and Neil Magni on points, and to Demian Maia, Alex Oliveira and Michael Chiesa by submission.
The fall of the 40-year-old Brown started with a loss to Robbie Lawler in 2014. And in 2016, Brown lost all three fights ahead of schedule: by submission to Demian Maia and by knockouts to Jake Ellenberger and Donald Cerrone. Matt then returned with knockout victories over Diego Sanchez and Ben Saunders to be knocked out by Miguel Baeza in May 2020.
Prediction for the fight
Condit has always gravitated towards the stand, being a technical and hard-hitting striker. He also knows a lot on the ground, but he has problems with strong grapplers. Despite a clear decline, Condit is still holding a punch. The same can’t be said for Brown. This veteran is a bit of a straightforward boxer-knockout, who also has problems on the ground.
If Brown somehow does not break through the strong chin of the opponent, then Condit should outplay the “Immortal” on the stand, and he will also have an advantage on the ground, so he can try to win by submission. Excellent finisher Condit (15 wins by knockout and 13 submissions out of 31) has every chance not to bring the matter to the judge’s notes and win ahead of schedule.
Condit wins by knockout in the 2nd round
Main card
Max Holloway – Calvin Kattar
Carlos Condit – Matt Brown
Santiago Ponzinibbio – Li Jingliang
Joaquin Buckley – Alessio Di Chirico
Punahili Soriano – Dusko Todorovic
preliminary card
Phil Howes – Nassurdin Imavov
Wu Yan’an – Joselyn Edwards
Carlos Felipe – Justin Tafa
David Zavada – Ramazan Emeev
Sarah Moras – Vanessa Melo
Jacob Kilburn – Austin Lingo
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