UFC’s first offering of the year is in the books and we already have ourselves a fight of the year candidate, as the Welterweight main event showdown was an epic brawl.
At the end of a five-round war, Robbie Lawler edged out a split decision victory over a game Carlos Condit to retain the UFC Welterweight Championship after putting on a stand-up spectacle.
The pace of the fight gradually peaked in crescendo, with the final two rounds seeing some huge exchanges.
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The Natural Born Killer was at his unpredictable best as he pulled out a string of innovative combos to land a majority of the strikes, yet, a final flurry from Ruthless – that almost floored Condit – tipped the judges’ decision in favor of Lawler.
The championship rounds, especially the fifth round’ blew the roof of the place as Lawler connected with some monstrous strikes, but a resilient Condit displayed an outrageously solid chin to make it to the end of the fight.
Both welterweights showered props on each other post fight, with Lawler showing interest in having a rematch. Condit felt he had three rounds in the bag, but it wasn’t the case.
As far as the battle for bragging rights over the no.1 contenders' spot in the heavyweight division goes, Stipe Miocic solidified his shot at the strap after putting a stop to Andrei Arlovski’s fairy tale resurgence with a TKO finish, 54 seconds in the first round itself.
Brian Ortega notched up a beautiful submission victory over Diego Brandao after trapping the Brazilian in a Triangle choke in the third round.
In the previously scrapped lightweight bout between Dustin Poirer and Joe Duffy, Poirer earned a unanimous decision victory over the guy infamous for his victory over Conor McGregor.
All in all, UFC 195 was a solid start to the year and below are the complete results of the card:
Main Card
Robbie Lawler def. Carlos Condit via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
Stipe Miocic def. Andrei Arlovski via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:54
Albert Tumenov def. Lorenz Larkin via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Brian Ortega def. Diego Brandao via submission (triangle choke) – Round 3, 1:37
Abel Trujillo def. Tony Sims via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 3:18
Prelim card
Michael McDonald def. Masanori Kanehara via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:09
Alex Morono def. Kyle Noke via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
Justine Kish def. Nina Ansaroff via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Drew Dober def. Scott Holtzman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Dustin Poirier def. Joseph Duffy via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Michinori Tanaka def. Joe Soto via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Sheldon Westcott def. Edgar Garcia via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:12
