Ex-UFC Welterweight Interim World Champion Carlos Condit has just been awarded with his purple belt courtesy of 10th Planet Albuquerque’s head coach, Nate Harris. The news was announced on the High Rollerz official Instagram account, as amateur MMA fighter Ben Goodman also received his blue belt during the same session. Condit has long been known as a dangerous grappler in MMA, earning his first submission victory all the way back in 2002 and finishing thirteen of his thirty-one wins by submission.
Condit is one of the last of a generation of fighters with an incredible depth of experience across different countries and rulesets. He started his career with an 18-4 record across promotions like Pancrase, Rumble on the Rock, and King of the Cage, finishing every single one of his fights by either knockout or submission and only losing by Decision once, to Jake Shields. He then moved to WEC and quickly became their Welterweight champion during a five-fight win-streak where he continued his run of finishes.
After losing his UFC debut, he went on a tear that included wins over some of the best the UFC had to offer in the Welterweight division at the time, like Dan Hardy, Rory MacDonald, and finally Nick Diaz to win the Interim World Championship. This is what led to Carlos Condit challenging the legendary Georges St-Pierre to unify their titles and considering the heights that he has achieved in his career so far, it’s surprising to learn that he’s only just being awarded with his purple belt now at the tail-end of his illustrious career.