Condit and Kampmann: Fighting for Relevancy at UFC Fight Night 27

The main event at UFC Fight Night 27 will pit two perennial welterweight contenders against each other in a fight for relevancy. In terms of title contention, one man will be fighting to stay relevant and the other will be fighting to become relevant.

Carlos Condit and Martin Kampmann will fight each other for the second time next Wednesday (Aug. 28) on Fox Sports 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana. In their first bout Kampmann defeated Condit via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28), it was Condit's promotional debut and only Kampmann's second fight as a welterweight in the UFC. Now, however, they are both seasoned campaigners in the division with UFC gold on their minds.

Since their first meeting, and despite losing, it is Condit who has had more success. Following that split decision loss in 2009, Condit has gone 5-2 in the UFC. It was a run that included a five fight winning streak that only came to an end when he faced Georges St-Pierre, unsuccessfully, for the UFC welterweight championship. He is currently the number two ranked welterweight in the UFC and his last six fights have produced five post-fight bonuses and an interim title.

Kampmann, on the other hand, is 5-4 since he fought Condit and two of those losses were via TKO in the first round. His path has not been laden with gold nor has it come even come close. Instead, he has spent his 11 fight spell as a welterweight in the UFC stuck in the lower half of the top 10. He is currently ranked at number six in the UFC's official rankings.

They both have three opponents in common and, interestingly, they share the same results. They both lost to Jake Shields, beat JakeEllenberger and they were both beaten by number one contender Johny Hendricks in their last outing. So MMA math is especially useless here.

Condit has worn both UFC and WEC gold and is still under 30, he is firmly entrenched in the upper echelon of the welterweight division. This territory, occupied by a small number of elite fighters, is one that Condit is fighting to remain in and Kampmann is fighting to break into. Kampmann has always been on the outside looking in, a couple of big wins are usually followed by a loss and his progression up the rankings stalls.

After dropping back to back fights, Condit's back is up against the wall, a win is pretty much a necessity if he has any intention of remaining relevant in the title picture. Kampmann, however, is at a crossroads. A win thrusts him into the title picture and a loss condemns him as a perennial 5-10 ranked welterweight, completely irrelevant as a title threat.

This headline fight is intriguingly poised, it is a rare non-title fight with real consequences. They will both, under different circumstances, be fighting for relevancy.