Nine months since their classic clash at UFC 171, Robbie Lawler and Johnny Hendricks met in another highly competitive bout on Saturday.
The initial meeting between Lawler and Hendricks resulted in a narrow decision win for the latter. However, at UFC 181, Lawler was able to edge Hendricks on the scorecard, avenging a loss and capturing a UFC championship for the first time in his MMA career.
With Lawler landing only five more significant strikes than Hendricks, it was a contest that could have gone either way. Although most MMA media members felt Hendricks should have won, according to MMADecisions.com, two judges sided with Lawler and one even gave him four rounds.
Since returning to the UFC after spending some time with Strikeforce and other promotions, Lawler has gone 6-1 inside the Octagon. Now that he’s avenged that lone loss, Lawler is looking better than he ever has in his long MMA career and has proven he’s the best welterweight in the world right now.
Hendricks has grounds to request a rubber match with Lawler. However, it looks like Lawler‘s first challenger will be Rory MacDonald, who has won three in a row and knocked out Tarec Saffiedine in his most recent outing. In November of 2013, Lawler also defeated MacDonald in a split decision.
That said, it seems inevitable that Lawler and Hendricks will break their tie in a third confrontation.
“Johny is one hell of a fighter. What a fight. Maybe we’ll do it again sometime.” @Ruthless_RL #UFC181
— UFC (@ufc) December 7, 2014
Clearly, he’s still very close to the top in the welterweight division. However, Hendricks has suddenly lost two of his past three fights.
Had Hendricks remained active and defended his belt a time or two while Lawler worked his way back up to the rematch, it would have been hard to deny Bigg Rigg an immediate rubber match following Saturday’s controversial decision. MacDonald appears to have that next spot in line, though, so Hendricks will probably have to win a big fight or two in order to get another crack at Lawler.
The good thing for Hendricks is that there are a number of big fights to be had in the crowded welterweight division. He’ll definitely have an opportunity to bounce back in a big way very soon.
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