Richardson at a WEC fight in Las Vegas, NV.When Carlos Condit stepped into the ring for a mixed martial arts bout Sunday night in Las Vegas, Nev., he had a high-profile fan in the crowd. Gov. Bill Richardson was in attendance, along with his soon-to-be chief of staff, Brian Condit.

Brian Condit, recently named as the successor to James Jimenez as Richardson’s chief of staff, is Carlos’ father.

The younger Condit, an Albuquerque native, holds the welterweight championship belt in World Extreme Cagefighting and kept his title with a fourth-round knockout of Hiromitsu Miura in the Hard Rock Casino. Condit, whose nickname is "The Natural Born Killer," is generally considered to be among the best welterweight fighters in all of mixed martial arts, including the popular Ultimate Fighting Championship.

A Yahoo! Sports interview with the fighter mentioned the political connection.

His father, Brian, is the chief of staff for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Condit said he remembers sitting around the dinner table talking about politics and the big news story of the day, not about the depth chart of the University of New Mexico football team, for as long as he can remember.

Condit isn’t the only famous fighter to train in Albuquerque. The Jackson’s Submission Fighting training camp is considered a premier training gym, with top fighters like Georges St-Pierre, Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, Nate Marquardt, Leonard Garcia, Diego Sanchez, Joey Villasenor and Rashad Evans either training thereor previously having trained there.Condit trains at the less well-known FIT NHB gym, less than five miles from Jackson’s.