UFC 195: Who’s On the Hot Seat?

While many had Condit walking away with the belt, “Ruthless” felt like he won the “swing” rounds.

There was no hiding his devastation and disbelief after losing a welterweight title fight against Robbie Lawler via split decision (48-47, 48-47, 47-48) in the main event of UFC 195 Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Lawler said he’s “not going to make a decision today” about when he can fight next after staging the 2015 fight of the year against Rory MacDonald, when in July Lawler rallied while down on the scorecards to knock out MacDonald in the fifth round.

Lawler surprisingly returned to his full form and smashed a few ton of hard strikes on Condit.

Whether you had him winning or not, Lawler, a man seemingly prone to bloody slug fests, left fans and viewers with a feeling of amazement. Those guys put together a great game plan.

UFC 195 was headlined with Robbie Lawler looking to defend his title against Carlos Condit. “If I didn’t – like I didn’t – I have to see if I want to continue to do this”. The co-main event of the January 2 card saw Stipe Miocic cut down former heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski with a barrage of punches after only 54 seconds.

UFC President Dana White expressed interest.

UFC 195 was expected to be headlined by Ronda Rousey’s title defence against Holly Holm, while Lawler and Condit were scheduled to meet at UFC 193 in Australia in November. This fight took every ounce of fight out of both men. “I’m just going to try to get better and improve”.

“It was close though”, Condit said. 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. The fight’s cresecendo undoubtedly occured during the final five minutes when Lawler went on the rampage, lighting Condit up with huge punches that left him on unsteady legs and sapped his strength, yet he refused to fall down or give in and made it to the final bell under heavy fire. While in the fourth one, Condit ruled and Lawler appeared to be slow. I respect both guys a lot.

It wasn’t exactly a glaring robbery, but it was certainly close enough to warrant a second bout – one Lawler actually mentioned in his post-fight interview. 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. “But I’m not a judge, so nobody probably gives a sh*t what I think. He pushed me. I had to fight my ass off instead of that technical, ground and pound, arguably boring fight that was my first title shot”.