Robbie Lawler To Defend Welterweight Title Against Rory MacDonald At UFC 189
UFC 189 is set to go down next summer on July 11, 2015 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event has already been announced, as featherweight king Jose Aldo will put his title on the line against Irish sensation “The Notorious” Conor McGregor in a highly anticipated affair.
Today (February 18, 2015), however, news broke that this card has become even more stacked and another title fight has been added. Current welterweight champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler will put his strap on the line against top contender Rory “Red King” MacDonald. MMAJunkie’s Mike Bohn broke the news via his twitter:
Dana White announced Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald UFC welterweight championship bout for UFC 189 on July 11.
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) February 18, 2015
UFC confirms Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor will headline over Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald at UFC 189.
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) February 18, 2015
The 170 pound division has been in a limbo of sorts as of late, since Lawler won the title from former champion Johny Hendricks at UFC 181 last December. Prior to this event, MacDonald had been promised the winner, but after the fight, the UFC announced that they had decided to go in another direction and put together a Lawler vs. Hendricks trilogy bout.
Things soon became weird after that. Lawler had made it clear that he wanted to take some time off after fighting four times in 2014. Hendricks then agreed to meet vicious contender Matt Brown at March’s UFC 185, and MacDonald was scheduled to meet Hector Lombard at April’s UFC 186.
So who was going to challenge Lawler in his first title defense? Well last week, news broke that Lombard had failed a drug test for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and was out of his bout with the “Red King”. This left the door wide open for the Canadian to get his long-awaited title shot, and it seems as if the UFC has agreed.
Lawler and MacDonald have actually fought before, at UFC 167 in 2013, with Lawler scoring a split-decision win.
UFC 189 has all of a sudden become one of the most appealing pay-per-views (PPV) of the year. Who do you see wearing welterweight gold next summer?
