UFC 181 blog: Robbie Lawler swipes welterweight title from Johny Hendricks

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014 | 7 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014 | 10:14 p.m.

Note: Full results from the preliminary card available at the bottom of the page.

Robbie Lawler sauntered around the octagon, soaking up the environment at the Mandalay Bay Events Center for several minutes after UFC 181 concluded.

Opponent Johny Hendricks was long gone. The main event aftermath was a telling display of the range of emotions present after a razor-thin decision.

The challenger fell on the right side in the minds of the judges in the last UFC pay-per-view of the year. Lawler defeated Hendricks in a welterweight championship rematch, earning a split decision (49-46, 48-47, 47-48) to win the belt.

“I thought I needed to get into his face and force him to fight,” Lawler yelled in his post-fight interview. “That’s how we fight in the UFC. That’s how we fight in championship fights.”

Hendricks offered no comment. Frustrated after hearing the decision, he fled the cage moments after the announcement.

The champion, who had won his belt with a unanimous decision over Lawler at UFC 171, appeared to easily win the second and third rounds with his wrestling. The fifth belonged to Lawler after a late surge.

It all came down to the first and fourth, both of which featured strong finishes from Lawler that were apparently enough. Although media scores differed widely, the Sun agreed with the decision having scored the fight 48-47 for Lawler.

“It’s just an amazing journey,” the 32-year-old Lawler said.

The main event was the only fight on the main card of UFC 181 that wasn’t decisive. The pay-per-view opened with Tony Ferguson overcoming a knockdown in the first round to submit Abel Trujillo with a rear-naked choke at 4:19 of the first round.

Heavyweights Travis Browne and Todd Duffee showed up next with first-round TKOs over Brendan Schaub and Anthony Hamilton, respectively.

The co-main event, and second of two championship bouts, was the likely Fight of the Night. Challenger Gilbert Melendez pressured Anthony Pettis relentlessly for six minutes, winning the first round with a mix of boxing and wrestling.

He stayed on the attack in the second round, but Pettis pounced on the slightest of openings. Pettis got a hold of Melendez’s neck in a scramble on the ground, forcing a tap due to a guillotine choke at 1:53 of the second round.

“He’s a fast, slick youngster,” Melendez conceded. “He made me feel a little old tonight.”

Check below for a live blog of the main card and preliminary results. Come back to lasvegassun.com later for full coverage.

If there was ever a card to break the UFC out of its current slump, it’s tonight’s pay-per-view.

It’s no secret the locally based mixed martial arts promotion hasn’t enjoyed a banner year. The past four months have proved particularly trying.

Since UFC 176 was canceled in August, injuries have struck at the top of each of the past five cards to further soil plans. Tonight’s UFC 181 wasn’t immune to the rash of bad luck, either.

The scheduled headliner of Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort for the middleweight championship fell apart months ago, but fortunately, in time for another championship replacement.

Johny Hendricks returns for his first fight in nine months in an attempt to defend the welterweight title for the first time against Robbie Lawler at Mandalay Bay Events Center. A lightweight championship bout between Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez works in direct support.

It’s the first time since July in this same building, and only the third time in 2014, that two title fights have fallen on the same card. Neither of the other cases had two bouts seen as competitive as tonight’s pair.

Both Hendricks and Pettis are about 2-to-1 favorites over their challengers. But there are strong reasons to think a new champion could emerge.

Some still believe Lawler beat Hendricks the first time, at UFC 171 in Dallas, despite the judges’ unanimous decision for the current champion. In the other bout, Melendez remains the best lightweight fighter in the world in some people’s minds.

Aside from an ultra-controversial split-decision loss to Benson Henderson in a title fight last year, Melendez hasn’t lost in nine fights. The streak stretches back six years.

A couple heavyweight slugfests will sate the crowd’s appetite for combat before the headliners. Rivals Travis Browne and Brendan Schaub have much to settle after a brief battle through the media during the week.

Todd Duffee also got a few barbs in on opponent Anthony Hamilton, who was none too pleased about being regarded as inferior.

One of the favorites for Fight of the Night precedes the four bouts at the top. Hard-hitting lightweights Tony Ferguson and Abel Trujillo will open the main card in a matter of minutes.

Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for a live blog of all the action, and scroll to the bottom of the page for full results from the preliminary bouts.

Urijah Faber submitted Francisco Rivera with a rear-naked choke at 1:34 of the first round in their bantamweight bout. The cheers quickly turned to boos, though, when replay revealed that Faber got away with a blatant, but inadvertent eyepoke before the finishing sequence.

Josh Samman went from a relatively anonymous fighter towards the bottom of the UFC roster to owner of one of the best knockouts in promotional history. After getting out-wrestled for the opening eight minutes of his middleweight bout, Samman knocked Eddie Gordon out cold with a head kick at 3:08 of the second round.

Corey Anderson beat Justin Jones by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) in a light heavyweight bout. Anderson was able to take down Jones at least once every round to ensure the victory.

The first round of a women's bantamweight bout between Raquel Pennington and Ashlee Evans-Smith could have gone either way until the final seconds. Pennington locked in a choke during the final few ticks and finished Evans-Smith via submission as the first-round bell rang.

Sergio Pettis got knocked down in the opening seconds of his fight against Matt Hobar but was mostly flawless the rest of the way. The younger Pettis brother defeated Hobar by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) in a bantamweight bout.

Clay Collard defeated Alex White via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a featherweight bout to open the night. White came on strong late, giving Collard a bloody nose, but the damage was done in the first two rounds when he was both nearly submitted and knocked out.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.