Saturday night saw a new changing of the guard situtation for the UFC's welterweight division.
After just one successful title defense, now former champion Johny "Bigg Rigg" Hendricks lost his title to mixed martial arts veteran "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler. As expected, the two hard-hitters engaged in an all-out five-round war, rendering another razor-thin split decision.
The two men had already fought each other previously for the title back in March at UFC 171, for the then vacant welterweight title that former long-time champion Georges St-Pierre left behind after a self-imposed hiatus. Just like the second fight, the first encounter was also a barnburner that also ended in a split decision verdict in favor of Hendricks.
Pundits expected the second encounter between Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks to be an explosive one, at the very least. Not one of them was able to give out any predictions prior to the fight, given the nature of both men's fighting style. But as expected, both of them delivered fireworks.
The fight's results, however, did go against the norms of prizefighting title bouts. Usually, when a challenger is unable to at the very least knock the champion down throughout the fight, he almost always does not get the decision.
Robbie Lawler, however, proved everyone wrong. He was not deterred by Hendricks' newfound striking versatility, and instead, he stuck to his gameplan and fought like the "Ruthless" that everyone was accustomed to seeing. This was what Dana White believed led the judges to come to such a verdict.
"I say to these guys all the time: don't leave it in the hands of these judges," White said in a report by BloodyElbow.com. "You've gotta stand up and you've gotta go for it. I thought Johny looked good standing up. He was getting off, he was landing some punches. But then he'd go for that shot and just sit there and waste time."
So far, Lawler and Hendricks has both delivered memorable fights in recent mixed martial arts memory. Both battles may not be comparable to the greats such as Gatti-Ward or Ortiz-Liddell for mixed martial arts, but it is one that many will remember.
That said, White himself is not closing his doors on the possibility of a third, and possibly final fight, just to settle the score.
"I don't know. The trilogy wouldn't be a bad idea," said White. "We'll see what happens."
