Robbie Lawler, left, fights Carlos Condit during the welterweight championship

Carlos Condit for the UFC Welterweight Championship.

At the final bell, the fighters stood side-by-side with their arms on the cage in mutual exhaustion and respect.

After watching the events of UFC 195 unfold from cageside, Rogan logged on to Twitter in order to address the issue of MMA scoring and judging in a number of impassioned statements.

Judges Chris Lee and Derek Cleary gave Lawler Rounds 2, 3 and 5 and scored the fight for him 48-47.

“They tell me when to train, what to train and I show up and do what they tell me to do”, he said. He said the decision to consider retirement isn’t one that is emotional or that came in the wake of a bitter defeat.

“There was two winners tonight, and let’s do it again”, Lawler said.

Meanwhile, Stipe Miocic earned a “Performance Of The Night” bonus after taking just 54 seconds to halt Andrei Arlovski’s recent winning streak. “It was an honor to fight him”. “You can’t make these kinds of fights right after the fight”. I wasn’t hurt neurologically, but I was roughed up a little bit.

“I thought I had three rounds in the bag but that happens”, Condit commented after the tough loss.

Condit won both the first and fourth rounds on all three scorecards.

“It depends how you score that third round”. “I was trying to live it minute by minute”. Look for Condit to use his craftiness early to confuse and disrupt Lawler’s rhythm with step-in elbows, rangy kicks, and tight, technical striking. The fifth was a flat-out brawl. “I knew he was coming out with guns ablazing”, said Condit.

As for what’s next for “Natural Born Killer”, he explained that his bout against Lawler may have been his last one of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career.

But by the end there was a buzz in the MGM Grand Garden Arena that exploded into a roar and at its core two fighters who had given everything.

“Man, Carlos is so tough”, Lawler said. It’s not a position unfamiliar to Condit, who has been the underdog in several fights in the past but he’s never been afraid to defy the odds.

“I’m not going to divulge any secrets but everyone knows what I bring to the table, which is to get in your face and force the fight and we’ll see if Carlos is up to the task”. Lawler is no longer the wild brawler we saw in the UFC a decade ago, but instead a marvelous boxer with bulletproof takedown defense.

Condit has done just about everything except win the undisputed welterweight title belt. But Condit, the 31-year-old former interim welterweight champion, couldn’t commit to anything. The 6-foot-4 firefighter from the Cleveland suburbs has won five of six fights despite enduring winter travel delays on his way to Vegas this week.