LOS ANGELES – Just how epic was the UFC welterweight title fight between champion Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 in Las Vegas on July 11?
So much so that another elite fighter found himself reacting like a fan in the cheap seats.
“I was impressed and I was entertained,” said Carlos Condit, the former UFC interim champion and WEC titleholder. “Fights like that, when I’ve been in those really gritty wars, that’s what I live for. I love that stuff.”
That type of attitude has worked out pretty well for Condit, because he will meet Lawler in the main event of UFC 195 in Las Vegas. And it’s little secret the bout has been put together in large part because it promises the sort of fireworks Lawler-MacDonald provided.
Whenever either Lawler or Condit steps into the Octagon, a potential Fight of the Year-caliber bout can go down.
“I’m just going to go out there and fight the way I fight,” Lawler said. “If someone else pushes me, then I’m going to push back. I think that’s what happens usually. I push back and they keep pushing and that’s how I fight.”
That’s what happened at the monumental UFC 189, when Lawler and MacDonald engaged in a battle which not only seems a lock for 2015’s Fight of the Year, but, three months later, is being discussed in terms of its place among the greatest battles in MMA history.
A rematch of a split decision won by Lawler at UFC 167, Lawler was making his first defense of a belt won via narrow split decision at UFC 181. MacDonald had won three straight fights since the loss.
After getting off to a solid start, MacDonald turned up the heat in the third round and nearly finished the fight. But that was just the first of several dramatic swings as the intensity level rose. MacDonald attempted to finish Lawler again in the fourth, but ran out of steam, and Lawler found his second wind in the fourth. In the fifth, Lawler poured it on and scored the finish.
“The plan is to go out there and stop him,” Lawler said. “I felt good going into the fifth. I thought I was going to get a stoppage. I just, I thought I was going to knock him out in the first two. I just kept doing what I normally do, which is try to knock somebody else. My coaches did a great job, my training partners did a great job of getting me ready for that fight, so, I was clicking on all cylinders and ready to roll in the fifth.”
That was fortuitous, because as it turned out, Lawler was trailing on the judges’ scorecards going into the final round and needed a finish to save his championship. Lawler, though, doesn’t agree that he should have been down on the cards.
“I always think I’m winning,” Lawler said. “I know the type of shots I was landing. I know he wasn’t blinking. I was the one who was coming forward, but obviously [MacDonald and his trainers] do a great job of maybe knowing how the judges score stuff and maybe doing certain things, but, I just felt like I was landing the big shots, the harder shots, but, whatever.”
The fight’s aftermath was a reminder that these are, in fact, human beings doing damage to one another and not video game characters. MacDonald was worse for wear with a broken nose and a broken foot. Lawler, for his part, suffered a gnarly looking busted lip.
With some time away from the spotlight, Lawler’s been able to reflect on the fight.
“I don’t think I proved anything to myself,” Lawler said. “I think I showcased to the world what kind of fighter I was. I knew what I was capable and it just happened to come out in that fight.”
He’ll have another chance to do that on Jan. 2.
As often seems the case when making title fights, the UFC’s decision to grant Condit the title shot wasn’t without controversy. Condit earned an impressive victory in an exciting fight against Thiago Alves on May 30 in Brazil. But he also has losses on his ledger to both former champion Johny Hendricks and Tyron Woodley.
When Condit was announced as the challenger, both Hendricks and Woodley protested. Condit, for his part, isn’t going to apologize for getting the nod.
“I understand where they’re coming from,” Condit said. “I might be bummed out too, but, I’m not in charge of them or their careers. I’m in charge of trying to get myself into the big fights and get the title shot.”
And besides, Condit knows what everyone else knows: If he and Lawler even come close to matching Lawler’s fight with MacDonald, few people are going to complain that others got passed over for the title shot.
“You get two guys in a cage fighting for their livelihood,” Condit said. “Someone’s coming across the cage and they’re trying to beat me down, they’re trying to end my night, they’re trying to do great bodily harm. The true fighters in this sport, we live for this stuff.”
Follow Dave Doyle on Twitter: @DaveDoyleMMA
