In anticipation of their highly anticipated UFC 143 interim welterweight title fight, former Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz (26-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC) and former WEC titleholder Carlos Condit (27-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) will be featured in the FX debut edition of "UFC Primetime," a three-part special.
The first episode airs Friday, Jan. 20, at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT, with subsequent episodes premiering in the same timeslot on Jan. 27 and Feb. 3
Replays of each episode air on FUEL TV.
"UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit" takes place Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The evening's main card airs on pay-per-view.
Different from the UFC's traditional "Countdown" shows, "UFC Primetime" goes more in depth and focuses on some of the biggest fights of the year. The most recent "Primetime" special, for example, (a special single-episode "Primetime" that aired on FOX) focused on this past November's heavyweight title clash between current champion Junior Dos Santos and former title-holder Cain Velasquez. The two met at UFC on FOX 1.
Condit, of course, initially was expected to fight UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. However, after Diaz topped B.J. Penn in October at UFC 137, he called out the champ, and St-Pierre campaigned for the fight with him instead. As luck would have it, Condit got a title shot anyway.
St-Pierre was originally slated to fight Diaz in a champion-vs.-champion fight at UFC 137. However, Diaz no-showed a pair of pre-event press conferences and was pulled from the title fight, and Condit got his spot instead. St-Pierre then was forced off the card with a knee injury, Condit was put on the shelf, and Diaz defeated Penn in the new headliner before calling out St-Pierre in the infamous post-fight interview.
With his dominant unanimous-decision victory over Penn, Diaz now has won 11 straights, and he's 15-1 since 2006. He now meets Condit, who's 12-1 in his 13 fights. The lone loss came via close split decision to Martin Kampmann in his 2009 octagon debut.
Source: 'UFC Primetime' debuts on FX for 'UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit'
