Hendricks deserves to wear gold, but it's tough not to root for Lawler. I don't think many ever thought he'd climb the UFC ladder potentially to the very top. Cinderella man.
The WW division is gonna be a revolving door now that GSP left. Everyone is so close in skill level and anyone in the top 5 can be champ on any given night.
Woodley or Rick Story seem like the best bet for Condit. I'd rather see Condit v. Alves but I doubt Condit wants to wait till the Spring to fight again.
That and if the UFC actually believed in its own ranking system, Condit vs. Hendricks makes the most sense.
That said, I have no issue with Lawler getting the shot. He deserves the opportunity as well. Carlos will get another crack at the title sooner rather than later.
This should be interesting. I don't see it in Hendricks best interest to try to win a stand up war with Lawler so I guess it I'd all about how well Robbie can stuff the takedown.
I really don't see Lawler standing much of a chance at all. He'll get beat everywhere, Hendricks is the real deal and Lawler is a generation behind. Johny is part of the new breed that fights less predictably than their predecessors. Guys like Weidman, Pettis, Jones, Hendricks are pulling away from the pack and leading the way to break out of the mold of abc fight styles where being well rounded simply isn't enough anymore. I don't see any way for Lawler to win, if they start trading Johny has the significant advantage. A few years ago maybe but Johny really knows how to approach a fight better than anyone at ww, he pushed GSP around like he was a little kid when they clinched.
Lawler's been finished many times, I don't remember Hendricks ever being hurt really. Punch for punch Lawler will be out cold and Hendricks is too good at gauging distance to stand in range to get knocked out by one punch. Maybe one in a thousand times.
Huge Exaggeration to suggest the chances of Lawler KOing Hendricks and his small head are 1 in a thousand.
1 in 2 Lawler KOs him, Lawler has looked so good since he is back at WW, people say Johnny is a big WW but he is just a heavy WW. Lawler on the other hand would not look too small at LHW.
Lawler will be the underdog here and maybe rightly so but I have a feeling this will be a lot closer than many think.
Huge Exaggeration to suggest the chances of Lawler KOing Hendricks and his small head are 1 in a thousand.
1 in 2 Lawler KOs him, Lawler has looked so good since he is back at WW, people say Johnny is a big WW but he is just a heavy WW. Lawler on the other hand would not look too small at LHW.
Lawler will be the underdog here and maybe rightly so but I have a feeling this will be a lot closer than many think.
seeing as Hendricks has never been finished or really hurt while Lawler has been finised many times pretty much points to the fact that 1/1000 is about right. To hit someone hard enough to KO them you have to hit them at the perfect distance which has a room for error of an inch or two. Lawler is an old school fighter and the odds of Hendricks standing there with his hands down in range of Lawler's hardest punch is pretty minimal especially considering Lawler isn't that fast. How many times have you seen Hendricks get wobbled by a punch or a kick where he backs up? I can't remember any.
This is just opinions obviously, maybe Lawler has a better shot than I'm giving him but the odds are close to Silva vs. Bonnar imo. Hendricks is the next class of fighter, just like it's been happening for 2 decades, new styles develop that completely dominate old ones and no matter how strong or hard you hit it won't matter if you are an entire generation behind. Just like when Rampage fought Jones, you could see the will was there but the skillset was the problem. Even if Lawler hits Hendricks with his best shot Hendricks is probably chin tucked hands up and he counters pretty quick, it's gonna have to be one of those behind the ear punches that screws up the equilibrium followed by a barrage of gnp to finish Hendricks.
Watching the fight with Rory left me completely unimpressed with his entire skillset, just don't see a guy getting an unimpressive decision against a mid-level fighter in Rory beating someone who dominated the former champ unlike anyone ever and came out unscathed. Nick Diaz knocked Lawler out, how does a guy like that beat Johny besides a huge mistake from Hendricks?
Watching the fight with Rory left me completely unimpressed with his entire skillset, just don't see a guy getting an unimpressive decision against a mid-level fighter in Rory beating someone who dominated the former champ unlike anyone ever and came out unscathed.
I guess we see, I'm pretty polarized compared to you guys.
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