UFC 195 Free Picks & Predictions: Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit

White said he’s also hesitant to commit Lawler to anything at this point.

Following last night’s UFC 195 event in Las Vegas the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced. But shouldn’t we make an exception after Saturday’s thrilling and impossibly close UFC 195 headliner?

Check out the video replay of Lawler vs. Condit by checking out this link.

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

Condit, who amazingly accepts the referee’s decisions agreed that it was close and he himself didn’t know if he was leading or not during the fight. Even after Lawler wobbled him with a big shot with more than a minute to go, the challenger remained on the attack. But then the fifth witnessed Lawler come alive and fight for his belt, hoping to finish Condit but content to see his hand raised in a razor-thin, split-decision victory on three scores of 48-47. Lawler, conceding the closeness of the bout, explained: “Carlos is a hell of a fighter who comes from one of the best camps in the world. And still — but let’s do it again!”

Earlier, Stipe Miocic stopped Andrei Arlovski with punches 54 seconds into the first round, likely earning a heavyweight title shot with a victory in the UFC’s traditional New Year’s week show in its hometown. Condit has only fought once in the past 21 months and has lost to fellow contenders Tyron Woodley and Johny Hendricks in recent years.

“I thought there was a good chance I was ahead”, Condit said.

“Come on, give me shot”. I wasn’t hurt neurologically, but I was roughed up a little bit. “And I feel very confident that it is”, Condit said.

If your UFC president Dana White, it seems that his vote goes the way of Carlos Condit, as White admitted during the post-fight presser that he had the “Natural Born Killer” taking round 3 (transcript via MMAFighting). Despite those numbers, Lawler still took the second and fifth rounds on every scorecard, with the third round somehow being a swing round in his favor despite having just one clear flurry land. The split was in the third round, in which Condit landed twice as many significant strikes as Lawler but the champ was more accurate, with harder punches. “I was trying to live it minute by minute”.

It remains to be seen how long Robbie Lawler’s reign as the UFC’s welterweight champion will last, but one thing’s for certain, it’s been ridiculously fun watching it all unfold.

“He’s our Evander Holyfield, man” White said, comparing Lawler to the former undisputed boxing heavyweight champion known for his heart-pounding bouts. He’s never in a boring fight. So even if you think you’re winning, you’ve got to still fight.

“Condit is just the same”. Meanwhile, Condit stated after the bout that he is contemplating retirement.