Lawler wins split-decision thriller over Condit at UFC 195

Down below will be a round-by-round UFC 195 recap of the bout between Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler with the final result posted at the conclusion of this article. Lawler absolutely left everything in the cage in that round, but Condit did as well, taking inhuman levels of punishment and staying on his feet. “He came with a game plan and we battled it out. Let’s do it again right away”.

When the final bell rang, Condit said he thought he would be leaving the cage with the belt. He acknowledged it was a close fight and also praised Lawler for going out in the fifth round with the intention and aggression to finish. “I think we’re going to go in there and put on a display of violence and aggression that people won’t soon forget”.

After staging the 2014 UFC fight of the year against Johny Hendricks and last year’s version against Rory MacDonald, Lawler set the bar high for 2016 with a spirited rally.

“Carlos is a kickboxer and he’s got a little bit of different style”, explains Lawler.

“I felt I had 3 rounds in the bag, but that’s why you don’t leave it to the judges”, Condit stated. Where Lawler primarily use his punches, Condit is very good when it comes to mixing up his moves as far as punches, kicks, knees and looks more to use his strikes as a counter-attack.

The difference was the third round.

In the third, the judges were split, with Cleary and Lee giving the nod to the champion, who landed a defining right elbow to the face and absorbed a lesser elbow and right hand from Condit.

Condit has nothing but respect for Lawler, but he believes now is his time and it has been a long time coming.

“Carlos is a helluva fighter”, Lawler said. “Hats off to him”, Lawler said”. “He’s tough and technical as hell, and he’s in shape”. After Lawler’s injury forced the swap, Rousey then took one of the most shocking upsets in recent sports history at Holm’s hands in Melbourne. Arlovski hasn’t been champion since 2005, but looks to take one step closer to ending the ten year drought with a convincing victory over Stipe Miocic on Saturday night. This is expected to be a title eliminator with the victor receiving the next shot at the championship.

The split decision victory didn’t come without its share of controversy. “I’m ready to climb this ladder”. Sims struggled with his takedown defense in that fight. It’s not the first time in his career Arlovski’s aggressive KO attempts has backfired. Although the first four rounds were entertaining, the fifth was thrilling.

FightMetric.com defines a “significant strike” as “all strikes at distance and power strikes in the clinch and on the ground”. “That’s what I did in the gym growing up as a kid, and it’s incredible to do it in the octagon for real”, Ortega said. I love lifting weights, I love running, I love the aspects of fight preparation.

But Ireland’s Joseph Duffy (the last man to defeat Conor McGregor) but wait for his lucrative rematch after losing a unanimous decision to Dustin Poirier.

“My nose is crushed for sure”.

“For me, it’s always the same – worrying about how I can get better, the techniques I can do”. “Right? He’s never in a boring fight”. “This is a whole collaboration of guys working to push me to the top and push me to excel”.

Nearly on the MMA scrapheap in his Strikeforce days, where he went 3-5, he has surged to the title after dropping back to welterweight upon re-entering the UFC.

When I caught up (above) with the 33-year-old family man in Las Vegas a few weeks ago Lawler was in relaxed, philosophical form.

Fox Sports 1 Prelims Bantamweight: Michael McDonald def. Masanori Kanehara by submission (rear naked choke), 2:09 of Round 2.

Not long after, though, Condit answered with a left trying to get the momentum right back for himself.