Poll: Who Deserves The Next Welterweight Title Shot?

Last night (Sat., July 11, 2015) welterweight champion Robbie Lawler and longtime title hopeful Rory MacDonald put on an absolutely electric show (video highlights here) in the pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event of UFC 189 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With most (if not all) of the event’s attention centered on Conor McGregor and his main event victory over Chad Mendes (watch highlights here), ‘Ruthless’ and ‘The Red King’ threw down in an exciting back-and-forth battle that will almost certainly go down in the annals of UFC history.

Both men weren’t without their scars to show for it, however, as MacDonald was sent to the hospital with a badly broken nose and swelling while ‘Ruthless’’ mouth was cut so bad that his lip was literally hanging off of his face. Unable to attend the event’s post-fight presser, they promptly posted a picture celebrating their warrior spirit at the hospital after the bout.

With the win, ‘Ruthless’ now has his first UFC title defense and sits firmly atop the talented 170-pound roost as its true king. With two wins over the former ‘Ares’ and a recent split decision victory over former champion Johny Hendricks, there aren’t a whole host of interesting challenges available that he hasn’t faced before.

‘Bigg Rigg’ has been campaigning for a rematch considering that he defeated Lawler in a close fight at UFC 171. A trilogy showdown with Lawler could be likely, but there’s also a case to be made for a MacDonald rematch given that he nearly finished off ‘Ruthless’ last night.

Then of course there’s the biggest potential match-up of them all; that of former all-time great champion Georges St. Pierre finally returning to avenge his good friend and training partner Macdonald’s two losses by facing Lawler for the belt.

There aren’t a ton of legitimate bookings on the table for Lawler, but there are some good ones. Whom do you think he should fight next?

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Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports