I think there are a few fighters in UFC that it is almost impossible to not like and Robbie Lawler is one of them. He never participated too much in the trash-talking and self-promotion that was popularized with people like Conor McGregor. I complain about these type of fighters on a regular basis because I don't feel as though they necessarily deserve the fights that they get and are only there because the money making nature of the industry propels the people with the biggest mouths to the forefront.
Robbie Lawler comes from a different breed of people. While he did do some trash talking in the past, for the most part he was a humble fighter who was respectful to his opponents and let his fists do the talking. He has had some gruesome fights in the past including one that saw an absolutely massive cut form on his face where there was a tear in he cheek that I can't believe that ring doctor allowed to continue. I'll feature that picture a bit later one because I don't want it to be my main thumbnail.
This past weekend Lawler was in a fight that he had announced beforehand would be his last regardless of the outcome. While I think there was a little bit of fiddling with the card to get him an opponent that he had a good chance of defeating, it wasn't a pushover match by any means, although Lawler certainly made it look as though it was.
The fight with Nico Price commenced in a very friendly manner, with Price saying that he felt honored to be able to fight against one of the sport's legends who was recently placed in the UFC Hall of Fame.
There was some concern that Lawler wasn't going to take this fight seriously and end his career on a bad note but I suspected that of all the people in the game, the former Welterweight champion would not be one of those guys that would just shoot for one last paycheck before checking out of the sport for good.
Lawler did not use this as a paycheck and it took him a mere 38-seconds to prove to the world that he truly deserves his spot in the all time greats.
Robbie managed to make the crowd go wild and go out in style in a much better fashion than other recent retirees have done including Cowboy Cerrone and Amanda Nunes. The Nunes retirement was particularly upsetting to me because I feel as though she kind of phoned in her last fight and then went on for too long with her post-fight retirement interview.
Lawler left nothing to be doubted in his final fight and he solidified the fact that he truly belongs in the spots of the all-time greats. I've been a fan of his since he had hair, but it wasn't until he started hiding his receding hairline as is so common in the world of men.
I was most interested in him during the times that him and Johny Hendricks were trading blows back and forth several years ago. It's a shame the Hendricks fell off because it looked like those two could have had a long-standing feud. There were some people out there that were arguing that Lawler didn't deserve a spot in the best of the best because he actually has 16 losses but honestly, we need to look past that because Lawler went through a dark period between 2016 and 2020 and then actually recovered to return to glory. Very few fighters can claim that and most would have just decided to retire when things started slipping. When you look at who he lost to, with the likes of Colby Covington, Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, and Rafael Dos Anjos I think it is pretty easy to make the argument that the UFC was already using Lawler as a "stepping stone" to promote other fighters. Most fighters, when this sort of thing happens to them, they just hang up their gloves and quit.
Even when he lost he put on a good show and he has fought a ton of big names rather than padding his resume with pushover opponents. The last 2 years have seen him win 2 out of 3 and with this 38-second KO in the first round, I can't think of a better way for "Ruthless" to hit the trail. Hopefully we will get to see him join in on some level with commentary in the future, but as of yet there is no word of him even being interested in doing something like that. We'll have to wait and see!