Johny Hendricks Believes Robbie Lawler Will Beat Rory MacDonald
“Ruthless” Robbie Lawler is set to put his welterweight title on the line for the very first time this summer at UFC 189, which is scheduled to go down on July 11, 2015 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Lawler will be standing across the cage from a familiar foe, as he is preparing to rematch Canadian Rory “Red King” MacDonald.
The two first battled it out back out UFC 167 in November 2013 with the “Ruthless” one scoring a split decision win. Another familiar foe of Lawler’s and former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks was also in attendance that night, getting ready to face off with former 170-pound king Georges St-Pierre in the main event.
Hendricks of course was focused on his own fight, but he said he believed that Lawler won the fight. Speaking with Fox Sports, Hendricks said that after watching the fight again, he still thought Lawler had won, but he also believed that it was much closer than he originally thought:
“Realistically when I rewatched the (first) fight, it was closer than I thought it was,” Hendricks said. “Cause when you’re in the back watching, you’re warming up, you’re doing all this stuff and every time I looked up it looked like Robbie was dominating Rory MacDonald. “
“But whenever I went back and rewatched it that night I thought it was a lot closer than it was until that knockdown. That knockdown really saved Robbie.”
As UFC 189 approaches, Hendricks will be keeping a close eye on this fight. Once again he has to focus on a fight of his on first, as he takes on the vicious Matt Brown at this weekend’s (March 14, 2015) UFC 185. With a win over Brown, “Bigg Rigg” will likely get the winner of Lawler and MacDonald.
For MacDonald to get the job done against Lawler the second time around, Hendricks believes the “Red King” has to do one thing. He has to hit Lawler with shots that will make him not want to advance, and get the champion going backwards, which may be difficult against the aggressive Lawler:
“Robbie might be a little too active. Meaning, Rory MacDonald’s going to be throwing his jabs and those kinds of things. He’s a lot like GSP because that is his main training partner and everything so he’s a lot like that. He’s very particular on how he wants to advance and when you’re fighting somebody who doesn’t care like Robbie, you’re going to have to hit him with something that makes him not want to advance,” Hendricks explained.
“Whenever I rewatch my fights, that’s what I had to do. I had to do stuff to make him not want to advance. If Rory goes in there and tries to do that, it could help him.”
Although “Bigg Rigg” has laid the blueprint for MacDonald, he believes the outcome will be similar to the first time around. Hendricks thinks it will be a close fight, but in the end, Lawler’s power will get the best of the Canadian:
“I think once Robbie hits him, Rory’s going to step back into his normal routine and I think Robbie might win this fight again,” Hendricks said.
If Hendricks’ prediction is right, and “Bigg Rigg” can win his next fight himself, we could end up seeing a trilogy bout between him and Lawler some time next fall. How do you see Lawler and MacDonald playing out?
