The holdup on Lawler vs. Condit speedy rematch

Robbie Lawler successfully defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight crown by edging Carlos Condit via a bruising split decision yesterday at UFC 195 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Despite landing significantly less strikes through five rounds, two of the three judges scored the fight for Lawler with scores of 47-48, 48-47 and 48-47.

2016 has started off with a bang for the UFC, but it also started off with a whole lot of controversy, as most fans and even the UFC boss himself thought the wrong man won in Saturday’s title fight between Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit. For Lawler to win the fight, he will need to control the distance.

Condit has been in preparation for Lawler for longer than his normal training camp after the champion suffered a thumb injury that forced him to delay the fight from the originally scheduled date at UFC 193 in November. Every competitor put on a great show and gave us viewers our money’s worth, but it’s the main event that will linger in our memories and keep us talking for years to come.

In the first round, Condit showcased a volume game in which he successfully dropped Lawler middle of the fight.

The champion appeared to be chasing his challenger in the final 10 minutes of the five rounds back-and-forth exchange but eventually did enough to earn two out of three 48-47 scorecards from the judges.

Miocic celebrated his victory by running across the cage to UFC executives Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, yelling at them to “Give me my shot!” It marked Lawler’s fourth straight win and first title defense. “I knew he was going to come out guns-a-blazing”.

Condit looked to be the aggressor for most of the fight, with nearly double the amount of strikes compared to Lawler (176 vs 92). Maybe he’ll be champion soon enough, but turns out the judges and the UFC weren’t ready to let him become a champion just yet.

White cautioned against reading too much into what a fighter says immediately after a brutal contest like Saturday’s main event, especially from a challenger that comes away on the losing end.

Robbie Lawler now holds the Welterweight title and has struggled to defend it over the past year.

Condit, who came out kicking a great deal early and seemed to throw Lawler off his plans, was classy, as usual, in defeat.

“Styles make fights and I think my style matches up against anyone in the welterweight division”. “It was an honor to fight him”.

“I’m just going out there to knock someone’s head off and get a quick victory”, he said. He didn’t get that finish, but he did win the round after destroying Condit with several huge punches.