The highly anticipated welterweight showdown between Carlos Condit and Demian Maia has shifted seven days from UFC 202 to the UFC on FOX 21 main event.
The change to the bout was originally announced on Twitter by veteran Canadian sportswriter Neil Davidson and was subsequently confirmed to MMAjunkie by UFC officials.
UFC on FOX 21 takes place Aug. 27 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The bout order has not been set, but Condit (30-9 MMA, 7-5 UFC) and Maia (23-6 MMA, 17-6 UFC) fill the main event vacancy.
Maia currently is ranked No. 7 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings. Condit sits at No. 9.
Condit in January fought welterweight champ Robbie Lawler at UFC 195, but he dropped a split decision in a “Fight of the Night” winner. Condit won the interim welterweight title with a decision over Nick Diaz at UFC 143. In a title unification fight with Georges St-Pierre, he dropped a decision, then lost a decision to Johny Hendricks at UFC 158.
He rebounded with a TKO of Martin Kampmann, but then dropped a TKO to Tyron Woodley – who goes after the belt in late July – when he injured his knee at UFC 171. After more than a year on the sidelines, he stopped Thiago Alves with a TKO in the main event of UFC Fight Night 67 seven months before his shot at Lawler.
Maia has won five straight, but he’ll have to make it at least six, apparently, if he wants a title shot. Afer back-to-back losses to Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald, Maia took decisions over Alexander Yakolev and Ryan LaFlare, then submitted Neil Magny at UFC 190. At UFC 194, he took a decision from Gunnar Nelson, then in May submitted Matt Brown at UFC 198.
With the addition, UFC on FOX 21 includes:
Carlos Condit vs. Demian Maia
Charles Oliveira vs. Anthony Pettis
Alessio Di Chirico vs. Garreth McLellan
Bec Rawlings vs. Paige VanZant
Enrique Barzola vs. Kyle Bochniak
Thibault Gouti vs. Chad Laprise
Joe Lauzon vs. Jim Miller
-AP
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