Robbie Lawler says he showed Johny Hendricks what ‘real fighting’ was all about.
The former UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler arguably had the most exciting UFC title reign ever, turning in ‘fight-of-the-year’s’ against a bloody Rory Macdonald and Carlos Condit in back-to-back title defenses.
It took Lawler 35 fights to win the world title, finally getting revenge on the man who had beaten him for the vacant title earlier that year in 2014: Johny Hendricks.
Their first encounter was all-action at UFC 171. Hendricks had nearly beaten then-champion Georges St-Pierre in the fight prior, doing just enough in the striking department to land a unanimous decision win, three rounds to two.
In an effort to retain his championship, Hendricks totally flipped the script in the rematch.
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Robbie Lawler hit Johny Hendricks with realization in rematch
Hendricks’ takedown attempts went from 2 out of 10 in the first fight to 5 out of 17 at UFC 181 where the welterweights crossed paths in Las Vegas.
Hendricks found a lot of success with his wrestling, racking up over 10 minutes of control time. But, there was also a lot of stalling from the champion in the clinch, something that made a ‘Ruthless’ fighter like Lawler chuckle.
“Last time he didn’t wrestle me, he just stood up,” Lawler said of Hendricks on The Jaxxon Podcast.
“I think the first fight, I think he realized he doesn’t want to stand up anymore,” Lawler continued.
“That’s kind of like what I wanna do to people, kind of put them in a situation where they think, oh s—, this is like real fighting…'”
Following five rounds of action, Lawler got his hand raised in a closely-contested split decision, his aggressive fighting style prevailing.
Robbie Lawler laughed at Johny Hendricks ‘scoring points’
Lawler, a five-time ‘Fight of the Night’ winner, is set to enter the UFC Hall-of-Fame this summer and will be inducted for performances like the one had against Johny Hendricks.
Lawler recalls what he found funny fighting the wrestling-heavy Hendricks.
“I remember in that fight and in the [Frank] Trigg fight, you see me out there and I’m laughing and the reason I’m laughing ’cause they’re doing something different than I am, they’re fricking scoring points,” Lawler said.
“So to me, I’m laughing. I’m like, you’re scoring points… I’m trying to beat the s— outta you. It’s my mindset…
Lawler continued: “You don’t want to be the frickin’ fight for 15 minutes [guy]…”
The night he won the title against Johny Hendricks, Robbie Lawler told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview: ‘I went out there and tried to finish… That’s how we fight in the UFC, that’s how you fight championship fights!’