The silver lining quickly emerged from the black cloud that was the loss of the Dec. 6 Chris Weidman–Vitor Belfort bout.
The dust had barely settled on Monday’s news that a Weidman broken hand had forced the postponement of the middleweight title fight when the UFC announced a new main event for UFC 181 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center: Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler for the welterweight title.
The new main event is a rematch of a bout which could still end up as 2013’s Fight of the Year when all is said and done. With the vacant title up for grabs, Hendricks and Lawler put on a 25-minute, toe-to-toe slugfest. With the title hanging in the balance going into the fifth round, Hendricks found another gear and clinched the decision.
But he paid the price in the process: Hendricks (16-2) aggravated a bicep injury originally suffered in training and had to undergo surgery afterward, which has kept him out of action since.
In the wake of the Hendricks loss, Lawler (24-10, 1 NC) went out and earned his rematch the old-fashioned way. The fighter nicknamed “Ruthless” earned a third-round TKO over Jake Ellenberger at UFC 173 in May, then earned a decision in a hard-fought five-round bout against Matt Brown in July.
With the new main event, UFC 181 will remain a two-title fight affair, as Anthony Pettis vs. Gilbert Melendez for the lightweight title remains the co-feature bout.