5 Most exciting UFC fighters to watch in the past decade (2010-2019)

#2 Robbie Lawler

Robbie Lawler's Welterweight title reign produced some of the best fights of all time

At 37 years old and on a three-fight losing streak, it’s likely that former UFC Welterweight champion Robbie Lawler is reaching the tail-end of his storied MMA career, which started way back in 2001. But his unexpected title reign from 2014 to 2016 made him into a UFC legend, and the quality of his fights while he was champion means he has to rank highly here.

Lawler returned to the UFC in 2013 following a nine-year absence, and defeated Josh Koscheck and Rory MacDonald to take his spot as a top contender at 170lbs. But it was after his loss in a classic title fight to Johny Hendricks that things really clicked for ‘Ruthless Robbie’. Following that, Lawler went on a tear, defeating Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown before downing Hendricks in a rematch to claim the title.

‘Ruthless Robbie’ only defended his title twice, but those two fights were amongst the very greatest in promotional history, a pair of insane wars against MacDonald and Carlos Condit that saw Lawler emerge with his hand raised, largely through his own insane grit and determination. How much longer he can continue is anyone’s guess, but there’s no doubt that the Ruthless One has been one of the decade’s best fighters to watch.