Dallas will be playing host to Johnny Hendricks championship MMA bout against Robbie Lawler. This would be somewhat of a “home-cage” advantage for Hendricks because the city he grew up is a short drive away from Dallas. Hendricks, the far more credentialed combatant, will be fighting Robbie Lawler, a journeyman MMA fighter, who has had a career of major ups and downs.
This title fight was made possible when Georges St-Pierre surprised the world when he vacated his title after a successful (yet highly controversial) MMA title defense against Hendricks last month.
In my eyes, the obvious favorite in this fight is Johnny Hendricks. Johnny was a phenom wrestler in college, a four-time all-american and a two-time national champion. Since getting to the UFC he has looked virtually unstoppable, accumulating 15 wins, and just two losses, one of which was an extremely controversial decision against GSP.
Lawler on the other hand is something of a journeyman, who has lost 5 of his last 11 MMA bouts, and a good, but certainly not an outstanding 22-9. Lawler has shown he has strong muay thai, and is a pure mixed martial artist in the conventional sense of “mixed”. But for my money, never bet against the superior wrestler. Hendricks is not simply the better wrestler, he is miles ahead.
The card will include a myriad of other rising stars vs old journeymen, showcasing fighters like Carlos Condit, Rick Story, Diego Sanchez, and Jake Shields.
If you are interested in entertaining your pallette of what we can expect in UFC 171, simply watch Cain Valesquez vs. Junior Dos Santos in UFC 166. As always, Lawler has a punchers chance, but if these two fought ten times, I think Hendricks wins nine of them.
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