UFC ON FOX 12: LAWLER VS. BROWN Date: July 26, 2014 Location: San Jose, California Venue: HP Pavilion Broadcast: FOX UFC Welterweight Robbie Lawler (-260) Robbie Lawler (23-10, 1 NC) is one of the last of the old guard as a Miletich Fighting System pupil, born out of the Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver and Tim Sylvia fighting school of the world. Lawler began fighting when he was 19 years old, and made his UFC debut way back in the day at UFC 37. Since then, Lawler has beaten and lost to a who’s who in the sport, including knocking out Frank Trigg, Melvin Manhoef, Matt Lindland and more. Post UFC, he was up and down in Strikeforce’s middleweight division, still showing his awesome knockout power occasionally but mostly being outgrappled by larger men. Since returning to the UFC in 2013 and dropping down to the welterweight division, Lawler has been nothing but a stud, going 4-1 overall with wins over Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald, Bobby Voelker and Josh Koscheck and the lone loss coming to Johny Hendricks in a close fight for the UFC welterweight title. Now at UFC on FOX 12 this summer, Lawler takes on Matt Brown in what should be an amazing fight with the winner earning a crack at Hendricks and the belt. UFC Welterweight Matt Brown (+180) After UFC 139, Matt Brown (19-11) had fallen to 12-11 and had lost four out of his last five fights. Many wondered what exactly the UFC was keeping him around for outside of his fan-friendly fighting style. We all learned exactly why Zuffa stood by Brown in the coming months, as “The Immortal” would go on a seven-fight winning streak (including six T/KO finishes) and beat up a who’s who of the welterweight division. He derailed the Stephen Thompson hype train, knocked out Mike Swick, KOed the resurgent and ageless Mike Pyle, stopped the up-and-coming Jordan Mein, and most recently demolished Erick Silva in a true beating. Brown is simply a bite-down-on-the-mouthpiece and move-forward-swinging type of fighter whose heart has absolutely won over UFC fans across the world. While the vast majority of his losses have come via submission, he’s improved his ground game greatly in recent years, and going up against Robbie Lawler at UFC on FOX 12 he doesn’t have to worry about being submitted. He just has to worry about putting on a show and getting the win, and if he does he will get a title shot. Opening UFC on FOX 12 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Lawler a -260 favorite (bet $260 to win $100) while Brown opened as a +180 underdog (bet $100 to win $180) at Several Bookmakers. This is a fantastic fight between two of the hottest fighters in the UFC welterweight division and the winner of the fight has already been promised a title shot. Both men are excellent strikers who like to keep their fights standing and finish their fights on the feet, but both fighters have questionable ground games. If this fight stays standing each man will have his opportunities, with Lawler looking for the one-shot knockout blow, and Brown looking for every opportunity to throw a knee or an elbow and get the stoppage via volume striking. This is going to be an amazing fight between two fighters in the prime of their careers, and I expect one of the best fights of the year to go down when it occurs. Profiles by Jason Nawara.
