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UFC 195 blog: No losers in Robbie Lawler’s narrow victory over Carlos Condit

Stipe Miocic calls for title shot after knocking out Andrei Arlovski

Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler Wins

L.E. Baskow

Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler connects with another shot to the head of Carlos Condit who throws a kick during their UFC 195 fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Updated Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016 | 10:01 p.m.

UFC 195 at MGM Grand

Women's Strawweight Nina Ansaroff takes a shot to the chin from Justine Kish during their UFC 195 fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, January 2, 2016. Launch slideshow »

UFC 195: Weigh-Ins

Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler and challenger Carlos Condit pose before the crowd during the UFC 195 weigh ins at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, January 1, 2016. Launch slideshow »

Moments after getting the UFC welterweight belt strapped back around his waist Saturday night, Robbie Lawler expressed what everyone in the MGM Grand Garden Arena was thinking.

“There were two winners tonight,” Lawler said in between deep breaths. “Let’s do it again.”

In the first title fight of 2016, Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit staged an all-time classic. Lawler retaining his title by the slimmest possible margin — a split decision with scores of 48-47, 48-47 and 47-48 — seemed secondary to the two battling in a war that will live on forever in the minds of fight fans.

Condit outstruck Lawler, but the champion made up for the deficit with punishing strikes. Lawler knocked down the former interim welterweight champion with a right hand in the second round and nearly finished him with a flurry of strikes late in the fifth.

Condit seemed to stay ahead otherwise, and most media scores including the Las Vegas Sun's had him as the winner. But it was far from a consensus, and even Condit didn’t dispute the decision heavily.

“I thought there was a good chance I was ahead but I knew he was going to come out guns a-blazing,” Condit said. “Even if you think you are winning, you have to come out strong in that fifth round.”

Lawler’s resolve won out in the fifth round with the entire crowd out of their seats and roaring. The charge was reminiscent of the one the champion used to stop Rory MacDonald in fifth round last July, but Condit wouldn’t fall.

He was wobbly but took every strike Lawler could muster. It was hard for Condit to accept that it wasn’t enough.

“I felt like I had three rounds in the bag,” Condit said. “That’s why you don’t go to the judges.”

Condit’s teammate in the co-main event, Andrei Arlovski, didn’t come close to reaching the scorecards. Stipe Miocic defeated Arlovski via TKO 54 seconds into their bout.

The part-time firefighter demanded a heavyweight title fight against the winner of UFC 196’s Fabricio Werdum vs. Cain Velasquez afterward.

“I just really want to have my shot and I know I deserve it,” Miocic said. “I think that win was impressive enough and I'm very emotional and jacked about the way it ended up.”

Featherweight Brian Ortega and lightweight Abel Trujillo also registered stoppages on the pay-per-view card. Ortega submitted Diego Brandao via triangle choke at 1:37 of the third round, while Trujillo used a guillotine choke to tap out Tony Sims at 3:18 of the first round.

Before the two headliners, Albert Tumenov won a split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) over Lorenz Larkin.

But that’s not the close welterweight fight that will get any of the attention in the aftermath of UFC 195. Lawler and Condit not only delivered, they surpassed the forecasts that called for a memorable fight.

“Carlos is just so tough, every time he fights he proves people wrong,” Lawler said. “He’s tough and technical as hell and he’s in shape.”

Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for more coverage later and check at the bottom of the page for full preliminary results.

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

Robbie Lawler has completed the top two highlights of his career over the last 13 months in Las Vegas.

Carlos Condit is always quick to remind everyone that he’s undefeated in the home city of the UFC. Las Vegas can only belong to one of the two veteran welterweights tonight, as they square off tonight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the main event of UFC 195 for the 170-pound division’s championship belt.

The fight is listed as a pick’em at sports books with fans’ hopes high that the two will deliver a battle to remember. Lawler and Condit have set themselves up for that level of expectation with fights that have consistently delivered over long careers.

Lawler’s last two appearances have gone above and beyond. The 33-year-old captured the welterweight title by edging Johny Hendricks in a tight decision at UFC 181 in December 2014 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Then in July, he outlasted Rory MacDonald in the consensus Fight of the Year in the co-main event of UFC 189. Condit was among those taken aback by the performances, and he began campaigning for the next shot at Lawler.

Despite losses in three of his last five fights, Condit got his wish in large part due to his fighting style. Out of his 30 victories, only two have come by decision.

He takes pride in being a finisher, both knocking out and submitting opponents regularly. Condit and Lawler project to put on an action-heavy bout, but they aren’t the only ones who could do that at UFC 195.

In the co-main event, Andrei Arlovski and Stipe Miocic clash for possibly the next heavyweight title shot. Arlovski, the former champion, has won six straight while Miocic is on a 4-1 run.

Lorenz Larkin, who once defeated Lawler in a Strikeforce fight, is featured in another welterweight fight against Russian prospect Albert Tumenov. A second up-and-coming fighter, 24-year-old Brian Ortega, meets Diego Brandao in the featherweight fight before Larkin vs. Tumenov.

The main card begins momentarily with a lightweight bout between Abel Trujillo and Tony Sims.

Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for live round-by-round coverage of the pay-per-view, and read below for full preliminary results.

Michael McDonald spent the first seven minutes of his bantamweight comeback fight getting smothered by Masanori Kanehara before dramatically turning around his fate. McDonald swept out of bottom position and onto Kanehara's back to lock in a rear-naked choke that finished the bout at 2:09 of the second round.

Alex Morono beat Kyle Noke by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30) in a welterweight bout. Most media members scored the bout for Noke, who suffered a broken nose but outstruck Morono.

Justine Kish defeated Nina Ansaroff by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a women's strawweight bout. The scores came as somewhat of a surprise, as the fight was close with Ansaroff counter-punching well in the first two rounds.

Drew Dober gutted out a victory over Scott Holtzman in a lightweight bout. Dober won a unanimous-decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Holtzman courtesy of timely takedowns.

Former featherweight contender Dustin Poirier further worked his way up the lightweight ranks with a dismantling of Joseph Duffy. Poirier battered Duffy en route to a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 30-26, 30-26).

Despite Joe Soto coming on late in a bantamweight bout, Michinori Tanaka held on for a split-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 28-29). The crowd booed the decision after the tightly contested fight.

Sheldon Westcott was so dominant in the opening bout of the night that he messed up the pacing of the UFC Fight Pass preliminary portion of the card. Westcott dispatched Edgar Garcia via TKO at 3:12 of the first round in their welterweight bout.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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