What’s next for Carlos Condit?

Carlos Condit is coming off the worst losing streak of his illustrious MMA career and undoubtedly must have retirement on his mind.

The Natural Born Killer, now 14-7 in the UFC, took on Neil Magny at UFC 219 in Las Vegas in December, 16 months after his last appearance in the octagon.

Every fight fan was expecting the Condit of old and were surprised by his rust despite the fact of his lengthy absence from the sport.

However, that, added with a well-executed game plan from Magny might have just been the beginning of the end for the “Natural Born Killer.”

It is, as we all know, absolutely paramount in MMA to know when to quit and with performances, particularly in his last two fights that were deemed under par, retirement has to be taken seriously for the Albuquerque born fighter.

But Condit has insisted that he wants to use this time while he’s still got it, acknowledging the fact that he hasn’t got much time left.

And as much as he’s given the sport, there’s just no way he can go on another title run. Sure, fighting pays the bills but as a fighter striving for ambition, to know it’s extremely unlikely to be in the running for the belt again must be a bitter pill to swallow.

In addition, the division is now far too stacked with younger, hungrier, more well-rounded fighters.

In regards to who Condit may fight next, can we even see him going toe-to-toe with anyone in the top 15 due to the result and the manner in which he lost his last two fights?

Kamaru Usman or Santiago Ponzinibbio spring to mind as their styles would make for great fights but it is very difficult to see Condit coming through any of those two under the current circumstances.

Another candidate could well be Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, especially seeing as the latter is also coming off a three fight losing streak.

However, all of the potentials will list a real threat to Condit and as a fight fan, I don’t want to see one of my all-time favourites bow out of the sport being remembered as having ‘past it’.

Yes, it seems harsh calling retirement for a man who lives and breathes MMA, but hopefully he doesn’t tarnish the renowned career he has had both in and outside of the UFC.

With wins over Nick Diaz, Dan Hardy, Rory Macdonald and Jake Ellenberger, and classic encounters with Johnny Hendricks, Robbie Lawler and George Saint-Pierre, it would be such a shame for fans to recall these bouts but counter with the argument he was “Poor towards the end of his career”.

Having won the UFC interim welterweight belt and just falling short of the undisputed, I think Condit’s career has been nothing short of spectacular and with respect, he’s up there with the UFC all-time greats of the welterweight division.

But oh how the mighty can fall in such a short space of time in this sport. We know it’s hard to let go Condit, but for the sake of your legacy, it’s time to call it a day.