Robbie Lawler, whose career seemed for years to be a name fighter who would never reach the top, took advantage of some tactical errors by Johny Hendricks to win a close decision, and with it, the UFC welterweight title on 12/6 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Lawler, who came into the UFC two years ago after losing three of his previous four fights in Strikeforce, won a fight that could have gone either way, and realistically came down to the fourth round.
Hendricks was getting the better of the standing exchanges in the round, and also got a takedown. But in the closing seconds, as Hendricks went for a takedown, and essentially stayed stationary trying to duck in, Lawler landed a number of punches. Hendricks controlled almost the entire round, but Lawler did more damage in the last 20 seconds. I gave the round to Lawler. The fifth round was similar in the sense Hendricks was the aggressor most of the way attempting takedowns and landing more, but as he shot in, Lawler landed much harder punches and had Hendricks hurt at the end. It was the same tactical mistake, but clearly, Lawler won the fifth round. With round one and five to Lawler, and two and three to Hendricks, two of the three judges gave Lawler round four and the fight. Almost everyone, except Glenn Trowbridge, scored four of the five rounds the same (Trowbridge gave Lawler round two, and thus the split decision scores were 48-47, 47-48 and 49-46 for Lawler).
In the stats, Lawler had 116 significant strikes over the five rounds to 111 for Hendricks, but Hendricks had five takedowns to none for Lawler. As far as significant strikes per round, it was 34-14 Lawler in the first, 35-13 Hendricks in the second, 26-8 Hendricks in the third, 23-19 Hendricks in the fourth, and 42-13 Lawler in the fifth.
Hendricks blamed himself, nothing he was walking around at 215 pounds all year (he was 218 when he started camp) and had to make 170, because he loved eating. He said the new goal is to stay around 195 and not have to cut so drastically. Hendricks didn’t look as strong, nor hit as hard as he did when he faced Georges St-Pierre last year. That was similar in the first Lawler fight on 3/15, but that was because he came in with a torn biceps, that ended up having surgery. He may have taken the fight too soon after surgery, or he may have had another injury that hasn’t been disclosed. All kinds of reasons have been speculated regarding his changing physique and power. But it was clear physically that he looked very different, smaller and softer, than last year. Still, if it wasn’t for the closing seconds of round four, he’d have retained the title.
Lawler and Hendricks have now fought ten rounds against each other, with each man winning five. Rory MacDonald was in line for the winner, but one could argue Hendricks deserves a rematch. As a fan, I’d pick MacDonald. From a marketing standpoint, Hendricks looks stronger. Still, there is no right or wrong decision here.
There was no doubt in the other title match. Gilbert Melendez seemed to have the right strategy against lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, crowding him and mixing takedowns and punches to win the first round. But in round two, Pettis landed a front kick, hurt Melendez with a right, and finished him with a guillotine. Melendez had never been finished in his career. In Pettis’ previous fight, he had submitted Benson Henderson to take the title, and Henderson at times had seemed immune to submissions. Finishing guys of that quality the way he did makes Pettis one of the best fighters in the sport. While he’ll likely face Khabib Nurmagomedov (22-0) next, who provides an interesting challenge with his grappling
ability, it also may be time to think about the Pettis vs. Jose Aldo fight that was talked about last year.
UFC 181 was a strong presentation. It was clear the Bellator show was a wake-up call, as there were some production changes, such as darkening the building during the title match intros, a killer hype video package on the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier fight, and putting C.M. Punk on the PPV to announce his signing. The second Lawler vs. Hendricks fight wasn’t as good as the first, and there were some boos late when Hendricks was going for takedowns and really just pinning Lawler against the fence. But it was dramatic, since it was a fight down to the wire.
The show drew a sellout of 9,617 paying $2,488,000.
The prelims on FS 1 did 840,000 viewers, slightly above the average of 809,000. It’s way above the past two shows that did 624,000 (second hour head-to-head with Bellator’s first hour), and 536,000. However, that number has to be a little disappointing with Urijah Faber put on FS 1.
While Faber himself has said many times if he’s not in one of the top two matches, he wants to be on free TV with the idea more people see him, in both cases, he was probably wrong. In July, the prelims did 1 million viewers and the PPV did 540,000 buys, and it’s a lock that with the number of people in the homes per buy that far more watched the PPV. Similarly, it looks like almost a lock it will be the same situation here. Plus, people pay more attention to and retain far more when they pay for it, and when it comes to star power, you have more star power when you are on PPV. Plus, while Faber is not a guy who will move big numbers on PPV, he’s a big enough star that it makes the show seem more loaded when he’s on the PPV portion.
Faber’s fight was the other big story of the show. Faber accidentally eye poked opponent Francisco Rivera. Ref Mario Yamasaki didn’t see it. Faber apparently didn’t know he did it. Rivera seemed hurt, and Faber quickly swarmed in and grabbed a choke for the submission. It kept Faber’s record of never losing a non-title match alive, and with his 14th finish, tied Anderson Silva’s all-time Zuffa record. Fans booed Faber after the replay showed the eye poke.
Really, when Faber saw the replay, he should have said that he didn’t want to accept the win and say he wanted to do it again. Rivera is expected to file a protest, but the Nevada commission seems to never overturn referee calls. Since the eye poke led directly to the finish, in my mind the fight should be ruled a no contest, and UFC should schedule the two in a rematch.
1. Clay Collard (14-5, 1 no contest) beat Alex White (10-2) on straight 29-28 scores in a featherweight fight. Collard took the first two rounds. White bled from the mouth and Collard from the nose in the first round. The second round was great, going back-and-forth. In the third, White was taking over, but Collard was able to get a takedown. White worked for a triangle and punched from the bottom, busting up Collard’s nose. White got a takedown into side control. Collard got $16,000 for the win and White got $10,000 for the loss.
2. Sergio Pettis (12-1) beat Matt Hobar (9-3) via scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in a bantamweight fight. Hobar dropped Pettis with a left immediately. Hobar got a takedown
later in the round. Pettis tried a takedown later and Hobar ended up on top and landed knees to the body. How one judge gave this round to Pettis is mystifying. Pettis clearly won the second and third rounds. Technically, he’s very good, but is small for this weight class and said he was probably cutting to flyweight. Hobar was tired in the second round and Pettis hurt him with hard punches on the ground. A stand-up was called by Mario Yamasaki which made no sense. Pettis kept landing crisp punches, but Hobar got another takedown in the second round. The third round was slow, but Pettis was the one landing jabs and kicks. Pettis got $80,000 for the win with his $50,000 best fight bonus. Hobar got $60,000 for the loss with his bonus.
3. Raquel Pennington (5-5) beat Ashlee Evans-Smith (3-1) via choke at 4:59 in a women’s bantamweight fight. Evans-Smith is best known for beating transgender fighter Fallon Fox. Smith had most of the round. Smith took her down once and slammed her down a second time. Pennington was bleeding from the left eye. Pennington came back late in the round with a takedown, got her back and put her away with a bulldog choke. When the round ended, Smith was asleep so the fight was stopped. Pennington got $20,000 for the win and Smith got $8,000 for the loss.
4. Corey Anderson (6-0) beat Justin Jones (3-1) by scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 in a light heavyweight fight. Jones is usually a middleweight, but took the fight on short notice to get into the UFC. Anderson easily won all three rounds. Jones has power when he did land, but Anderson landed more, and got several takedowns. In the third round, Anderson had Jones up and went for an Oklahoma Stampede, but lost him somewhere near Kansas. This was a boring fight. Anderson got $30,000 for the win and Jones got $8,000 for the loss.
5. Josh Samman (11-3) beat Eddie Gordon (8-2) at 3:08 of the second round in a middleweight fight. Samman had quite the story. His girlfriend died on December 6, 2013, on her birthday. So this was the one year anniversary. He asked UFC if he could fight on this show. Gordon was a heavy favorite, having won TUF and being a training partner (and high school friend) of Chris Weidman’s. Gordon took him down twice in the first, landed punches from the top and seemed too strong. In the second round, Gordon was on top and had Samman flattened. Fans were booing and Herb Dean ordered a stand-up. Samman then landed a kick to the head and Gordon was out cold instantly. This was one of the most amazing knockouts. It could win knockout of the year. Samman got $66,000 for the win, with his best knockout bonus. Gordon got $15,000 for the loss.
6. Urijah Faber (32-7) beat Francisco Rivera (10-4, 1 no contest) at 1:34 of the second round in a bantamweight fight. Rivera gave Faber all kinds of trouble in this round, hurting him with a right, and blocking his takedown attempts. The second round saw the eye poke and then Faber finished him with the choke. Faber got $140,000 for the win and Rivera got $20,000 for the loss.
7. Tony Ferguson (18-3) beat Abel Trujillo (12-6, 1 no contest) at 4:19 of the second round in a lightweight fight. Usual Trujillo fight where he come out throws bombs, and then tires out. He decked Ferguson with a right and was throwing bombs. He got a takedown and went for a guillotine. He landed more punches, and got another takedown. Ferguson then took over late in the round with a flying knee and low kicks. In the second, Ferguson got Trujillo’s back but missed an armbar attempt. Ferguson took him down and got his back again. Trujillo managed a takedown. The finish saw Ferguson spin and get Trujillo’s back and lock in the choke.
Good win for Ferguson and a fun fight. Ferguson got $48,000 for the win and Trujillo got $14,000 for the loss.
8. Todd Duffee (9-2) beat Anthony Hamilton (13-4) in :33 of a heavyweight fight. This was Duffee’s first fight in two years after battling Parsonage Turner Syndrome, which caused severe pain and numbness in his arm. He landed a quick knockout. Duffee got $20,000 for the win and Hamilton got $10,000 for the loss.
9. Travis Browne (17-2-1) beat Brendan Schaub (11-5) in 4:50 of a heavyweight fight. Browne was just too big and strong. He threw Schaub down a few times. Schaub landed some good punches and got a takedown. Browne got up, knocked Schaub down and moved into mount, got his back and threw punch after punch from back position before the fight was stopped. Browne got $100,000 for the win and Schaub got $32,000 for the loss.
10. Anthony Pettis (18-2) beat Gilbert Melendez (22-4) at 1:53 of the second round to retain the UFC lightweight title. Melendez came out aggressive, backing Pettis into the cage and landing punches and mixing in takedowns. He got his back and was punching but Pettis escaped. Melendez got another takedown and landed punches on the ground. Pettis got up and landed a nice spin kick to the body but Melendez crowded him and threw more punches. Both were trading. Pettis landed a flying knee. Melendez landed more punches and Pettis hit a flying knee. Good first round. Melendez stayed on him in the second, still landing more. But Pettis hit a front kick, and hurt Melendez with a right before getting the guillotine. Pettis got a reported $250,000 for the win with his best finish bonus, and Melendez got $200,000 for the loss. Those numbers wouldn’t include any PPV bonus money involved.
11. Robbie Lawler (25-10, 1 no contest) beat Johny Hendricks (16-3) on scores of 48-47, 47-48 and 49-46 to win the UFC welterweight title. Lawler came out fast and was all over him. He landed lots of knees from close range. Hendricks started taking him apart with punches late in the round and took him down, but that wasn’t enough to win the round. Lawler opened round two strong including hurting Hendricks with a right. Then Hendricks came back with punches and took Lawler down. Back up, Lawler landed a front kick but Hendricks hurt him with a right. Hendricks went for a guillotine late in the second round. Hendricks controlled the third round with a lot of punches and got two late round takedowns. Hendricks was pushing Lawler against the fence going for a takedown at the start of round four. He landed shots until Lawler landed a hard head kick and a knee. Hendricks was back with more punches. He continued to land and Hendricks got a takedown. But as he went for another one, Lawler hurt him late with punches. Take away that final ten seconds and it was Hendricks’ round, that’s how close this fight was. Two of the three judges had it tied 38-38 at this point. However, Hendricks thought he was up 39-37 and really tried to stall out the fifth round. His corner told him there was a good chance the fight was tied. Hendricks was going for a takedown and not getting it. Herb Dean separated them. Hendricks landed punches and a body kick and shot for a takedown. Lawler was blocking the takedown and started landing hard punches and elbows He hurt Hendricks late throwing everything he had and won the round in the last minute. Lawler got $220,000 for the win and Hendricks got $150,000 for the loss. That also wouldn’t include any PPV bonus money involved.
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