“It was an incredible fight”. This fight took every ounce of fight out of both men.
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Condit threw 198 total strikes to Lawler’s 78 but the latter was more efficient, landing 44% of his strikes (78 of 177) to the former’s 39% (198/504). He had Condit staggered and wobbly on several occasions over the final five minutes, but the challenger valiantly held on to put the fight in the hands of the judges.
With the win, Lawler defends his belt for the second consecutive time and collects his fifth win in a row.
“Carlos is a hell of a fighter and he comes from one of the best camps in the world”, Lawler said.
“I got caught in the second and in the flurry in the fifth”.
Both welterweights showered props on each other post fight, with Lawler showing interest in having a rematch. He landed 176 significant strikes to Lawler’s 92. Most fans were on board when the bout was announced, but there were some who questioned whether Condit should be tapped for a title fight over Johny Hendricks.
“I wanted a firefight”. “I really did feel like I won. I thought I had three rounds in the bag, but that happens”.
“For me, this is a creative outlet, like putting together great notes”.
Condit wasn’t as lucky.
“It was close though”, Condit said. “I knew he was going to come out guns-a-blazing”.
Told by UFC analyst Joe Rogan that he would if not struck by a meteor, Ohio’s Miocic said, “With my luck, I probably would”.
“A lot of hard work has finally paid off. I’m just doing what I’m always doing … always learning”.
“There’s a possibility that might be my last one”, he insisted.
Robbie Lawler, right, trades blows with Carlos Condit during a welterweight championship mixed martial arts bout at UFC 195, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, in Las Vegas. White said he did too. “We’ll talk to Dana and figure things out”.
“These two were just in a five-round absolute war”, White emphasized. His 67% takedown defense is still out of the top-10 amongst active UFC welterweights (number ten on the list, Sean Spencer, is 72%).
Although a thumb injury in training forced a delay in this matchup, Lawler has recovered physically from his preposterously nasty bout with MacDonald at UFC 189.
Saturday night’s classic somehow exceeded even that epic battle.
“Man, Carlos is so tough”, Lawler said. When he gets hurt, he continues to go toe-to-toe and Robbie reminds me that he’s our Evander Holyfield. “But for some reason these guys won’t stay down”.
Condit, who trains in the Albuquerque, N.M., gym occupied by women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm and stripped light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones, possessed the interim welterweight belt three years ago when he defeated Nick Diaz by unanimous decision. I was going to move forward … He got the title barely.
Condit wasn’t as happy.
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“I did. It was close though”, he said.
