Kondo won his debut by a guillotine choke submission in the first round and would go to reach a 7–0–1 record, before he was handed his first career loss by Jason DeLucia in a decision.

All but one of Kondo's first 38 career fights were under the Pancrase banner, and he held a record of 31-4-3 with wins over Minoru Suzuki, Semmy Schilt (2x), Keiichiro Yamamiya (2x), Pete Williams, Guy Mezger, Masakatsu Funaki, Ikuhisa Minowa, Jason DeLucia, Kazuo Takahashi, and Manabu Yamada before making his UFC debut.

After rocking Ortiz with a flying knee early in the fight, Kondo would lose the bout via cobra choke submission at 1:52 into the first round.

Kondo then went 8-1-3 with wins over Akihoro Gono and Josh Barnett before facing Sanae Kikuta for the Light Heavyweight King of Pancrase title.

Kondo would then go on to lose his next five bouts with the organization, including a rematch with Akihiro Gono and another knockout loss at the hands of Phil Baroni at Pride Bushido 10.