This past weekend at the UFC on FOX 12 card, welterweight Robbie Lawler took out the surging Matt Brown with a strong 5 round beatdown. Look for this match to catapult Lawler into a second showdown with UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks.
The two first met in March of this year, with Georges St Pierre’s vacated title on the line. After a classic battle, Hendricks walked away with the decision and the belt. Since then, Hendricks has been inactive while Lawler has taken to the octagon twice. In those two fights, Lawler has done nothing but assert himself as the top contender in the division as he took out Jake Ellenberger in his outing prior to dismantling Brown.
There is basically nothing else to do, as Hendricks does not have a match scheduled and Lawler has completed his stranglehold on the number one contender spot. The first match up saw Hendricks enter as a strong favorite, and in the end the judges cards saw the match in his favor.
Look for the line to be about the same as for the first match, as Hendricks will have been away from the octagon for 9 months and Lawler has been building with each passing performance.
What can Lawler do different this time out? He spoke about it after the first meeting, that he felt he had possibly hurt Hendricks but that he had failed to follow through and go in for the finish. That hesitance was what Lawler mentioned immediately after the fight in the post fight press conferences, and he has shown little hesitance in his performances since.
Hendricks is now on the pound for pound lists, but we still don’t really know what is the depth of his game. Against Lawler, who is a big puncher like Hendricks, he obviously did enough to win the fight, but if Lawler presses him on the feet, can he counter punch and survive, or will he be forced to wrestle and try ground and pound? Lawler has great takedown defense, and Hendricks will pay on his way in, even if he is able to work the takedown. And then what? Can Johny finish, or is he susceptible to stand ups that will put him in danger form Lawler’s fists repeatedly.
Lawler may even make this a tighter line than the first time out, hopefully its as good a fight as well.
