Robbie Lawler’s long journey through mixed martial arts reached its pinnacle, as he left the cage with the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title fastened to his waist.
The “Ruthless” American Top Team product took a split decision from Johny Hendricks in the UFC 181 headliner on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Two of the three cageside judges ruled in Lawler’s favor by 48-47 and 49-46 scores; a third cast a dissenting 48-47 nod for Hendricks.
A little less than nine months after their unforgettable encounter at UFC 171 — Hendricks walked away with a unanimous verdict — in Dallas, the two high-caliber welterweights engaged in another back-and-forth battle for 25 minutes. Lawler (25-10, 10-4 UFC) stormed out of the gate with stunning aggression, tearing into the incumbent champion with repeated knees to the body. Hendricks (16-3, 11-3 UFC) survived the initial onslaught, carried the fight into the second round and found his groove. The Oklahoman smashed Lawler with two-, three and sometimes four-punch combinations, often punctuating them with heavy leg kicks. Lawler seemed frozen at times, but he never went away.
Late in the fourth round, Hendricks jumped on a single-leg and held on for too long, eating punches and elbows in a crouched position. The sequence seemed to turn the tide. Lawler shut down the “Bigg Rigg” again in the fifth and forced him into the same position of vulnerability, punishing his head with hammerfists and his body with digging elbows. Hendricks returned to his feet, only to be met by a blitzkrieg of winging punches from Lawler, the challenger clearly the fresher and hungrier of the two.
Lawler, who became American Top Team’s first UFC champion, has gone 6-1 since returning to the Octagon in February 2013.
