Condit danced and kicked his way to the decision at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas as he keept himself out of the range of his opponent, with the three judges scoring the fight 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46 in his favour.

St-Pierre was watching at ringside and will face Condit sometime later this year when he has sufficiently recovered from torn knee ligaments.

"It was pretty sweet. My coaches and teammates prepared me for this fight," former World Extreme Cagefighting champion Condit (28-6) said.

"I did what they told me to do and it carried me to victory. Hats off to Nick Diaz. He's a warrior. I've got nothing but respect for how he fights."

Many were predicting Diaz would come through the bout to set up a clash with bitter rival St-Pierre but he was not able to pin down his a mobile Condit, with a flurry of punches in round two one of his few highlights.

After the fight Diaz made his thoughts on the decision clear, with the 28-year-old also hinting that he is ready to retire from the sport.

Anger

"I'm not going to accept the fact this was a loss," Diaz (27-8) said after his first defeat in over four years.

"I've lost fights before, but that (decision) ain't right. I pushed him back the whole fight, I walked him back - Carlos is a great guy.

"I think I'm done with this MMA, I had some fun. I don't need this. I pushed this guy backward the whole fight.

"He kicked me with little baby leg kicks the whole fight. I don't want to fight this way anymore. I'm out of this."

Elsewhere on the card, Frabricio Werdum claimed a dominant unanimous decision in his heavyweight clash with Roy Nelson, the Brazilian fighter locking his American opponent in the Muay Thai clinch for much of the contest.

In welterweight action, John Koscheck edged a split decision against the up-and-coming Mike Brown, the long-time contender benefitting from being the busier fighter down the stretch.

There was a unanimous decision win for Renan Barao over Scott Jorgensen in their bantamweight clash, while Ed Herman submitted Clifford Starks with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their middleweight bout.