Robbie Lawler Aiming To Return To Full Training In February
After a very busy 2014 that saw him fight four times, current UFC welterweight champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler needed some time off from training, and his coaches recommended a break as well:
“I’m excited to get back to training, but I need to rest,” Lawler admitted to MMAJunkie. “I had a tough year, a long year, a lot of fights in a row, so my coaches want me to relax a little bit.
“It’s been a little hard to relax. I don’t really know how to relax just because last year I’ve just been training and training and training.”
After losing a very close decision to former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks at UFC 171 last March, the year was not looking good for Lawler. However, “Ruthless” quickly bounced back by obliterating Jake Ellenberger at UFC 173 last May and scoring a decision win against Matt Brown in a five-round war at UFC on FOX 12 last July.
These two wins earned “Ruthless” another crack at the belt and another crack at Hendricks last month at UFC 181. This time, Lawler rose to the occasion and scored a split decision win to become the new UFC welterweight champion.
Having competed for so long, it’s been a tough journey for Lawler, but after the fight he accredited much of his success to his team. Training under the legendary American Top Team (ATT) banner, Lawler was also the team’s first UFC champion:
“It was a long time coming,” Lawler said. “It was a lot of hard work and dedication put forwardd by all these really good trainers, really good guys around the gym. They’ve been in it just as long as me, if not longer. We did it at the same time, and we did it together.”
As for what’s next for Lawler, UFC officials initially said that Rory MacDonald would be the next in line for a shot at welterweight gold. But after Lawler’s close and exciting rematch with Hendricks, the UFC confirmed that a trilogy match would go down between the two and MacDonald would have to wait a little longer.
Although “Ruthless” knows who he will be taking on next, the date of the fight remains unknown. However, the new champion is aiming to return to training next month:
“Hopefully by February I’ll be full-force, training hard,” Lawler said.
Will Lawler prove he is undoubtedly the best when he takes on Hendricks for the third time later this year?
