UFC on FOX: Lawler vs. Brown

UFC on FOX: Lawler vs. Brown
Saturday, July 26, 2014
From the SAP Center in San Jose, California
Live on FOX at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT

Main Event: (5 Rounds)

Welterweight Bout: Robbie Lawler (#1) vs. Matt Brown (#5)

Main Card Bouts:

Light Heavyweight Bout: Anthony Johnson (#5) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Featherweight Bout: Clay Guida (#7) vs. Dennis Bermudez (#12)

Lightweight Bout: Josh Thomson (#3) vs. Bobby Green (#13)

Preliminary Bouts: (Live on FOX at 6 PM ET / 3 PM PT)

Lightweight Bout: Daron Cruickshank vs. Jorge Masvidal (#14)

Light Heavyweight Bout: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Patrick Cummins

Welterweight Bout: Hernani Perpetuo vs. Tim Means

Featherweight Bout: Mike De La Torre vs. Brian Ortega

Preliminary Bouts: (Live on UFC Fight Pass at 4:15 PM ET / 1:15 PM PT)

Lightweight Bout: Akbarh Arreola vs. Tiago Trator

Welterweight Bout: Andreas Stahl vs. Gilbert Burns

Women's Strawweight Bout: Juliana Lima vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Featherweight Bout: Steven Siler vs. Noad Lahat

One of the best cards the UFC has put together in some time. I am actually excited for this one. The main event will be violent. It will either be quick and violent or it will be an absolute classic, but violence there will be.

I was looking forward to this show and then realized I have an engagement party. =( Don't get married people, your friends will hate you for it.

I got married the night of the Velasquez vs Dos Santos III. There was a 10 minute period where I tried to figure out if I could steer my wedding party toward a bar that would be showing it after the reception. I decided against it, for obvious reasons.

I was shocked the main event went the distance. It was overall a fairly entertaining night of fights.

Lawler vs. Brown was just a fun display of violence. It didn't even feel like I watched a 5-round fight. Credit to Brown for being as tough as he is, because most fighters would have been put away much sooner by Lawler.

Although I would have liked to see Johny Hendricks defend the title against another opponent first (like the newly aggressive Rory MacDonald), Hendricks vs. Lawler 2 should be an incredible matchup.

Anthony Johnson's beating Little Nog was a foregone conclusion. However, the brutal KO finish was just an example of how sadistic Joe Silva must have been when making this matchup.

I don't believe in the "newly aggressive" McDonald just yet. There are safe fighters and there are aggressive fighters. I think it is really hard to shift, particularly from safe to aggressive. I think his aggression is strategic and more for show than anything. It has been a while since we have seen him finish anyone. Lawler deserves a rematch. That guy has gone out and won two big matches since his title shot and there were good arguments that he won the Hendricks match. I am very much looking forward to a rematch. LIke you said, it should be fun.

I was actually still in wait and see mode with Johnson. THis guy burned mma fans more than once and Nog is no hack, especially with technical boxing. I waited and I saw that Johnson is a god damned killer. If Gus didn't deserve an immediate rematch I would say pull the trigger on that fight. Right now, Johnson vs Glover seems like the right thing to do.

MacDonald did seem a lot more aggressive than usual against Demian Maia and Tyron Woodley. The fight with Maia especially. Yes, he didn't finish them, but those aren't the type of guys who get easily finished either.

Lawler has certainly earned a rematch with two big wins over top 10 contenders since losing a close decision in the Hendricks fight. I just personally would have preferred Hendricks be able to get a different matchup in as his first title defense before fighting Robbie again. Either way, it's great matchmaking, especially since Lawler has been very active since the Hendricks bout.

Rumble will be in title contention soon. He made Phil Davis look awful in his UFC return, and then demolished Little Nog. A matchup with Glover seems like a good idea for a potential title shot.