Robbie Lawler is a man of few words. For the most part, Lawler lets his fists do the talking and has built a reputation throughout his career as one of the most fierce competitors in the sport.
For ‘Ruthless’, pay cheques and big money fights come second to his legitimacy as a pound-for-pound great and respected knockout artist.
When asked if he was interested in fighting the winner of Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz II at UFC 202, the 34-year-old seemed disinterested.
“Nate’s not one of the guys that I’m looking to fight,” Lawler said at a recent media scrum ahead of his welterweight title defence against Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 (h/t Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting). “He’s, he did something amazing in March and I was cheering him on. He’s a 55er. Everyone knows that. That’s where he wants to be.”
McGregor, who has ambitions of becoming a multi-division champion, is open to challenging for the 170-pound title but Lawler has other interests.
“I’m not sure if anybody can shut Conor up,” Lawler said. “I’m not concentrating too much on that. He’s gotta get through Nate obviously, you know? Conor is obviously a big payday, but winning fires me up. Trying to get over guys and knock them out, that’s what fires me up. Decision victories, whoop dee doo, but finishing guys fires me up.”
McGregor will look to avenge his loss to Diaz in another main event welterweight tilt at UFC 202 on August 20. The Irishman was reversed and submitted by Diaz at UFC 196 after coming into the bout as a heavy favorite.
Lawler will defend his welterweight title for the third time against Woodley at UFC 201. The pay-per-view takes place July 30 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
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