MMAjunkie’s 2013 MMA Awards: Robbie Lawler wins Comeback Fighter of the Year

This week MMAjunkie recognizes MMA’s greatest achievements from the past year. We’re honoring fighters in six categories as part of MMAjunkie’s 2013 MMA Awards. MMAjunkie writers and radio hosts provided a list of finalists, and MMAjunkie readers voted for the winners this past week. Today, we announce MMAjunkie’s Comeback Fighter of the Year.

Today: Comeback Fighter of the Year – Robbie Lawler
Tuesday, Jan. 7: Breakout Fighter of the Year – TBA
Wednesday, Jan. 8: Submission of the Year – TBA
Thursday, Jan. 9: Knockout of the Year – TBA
Friday, Jan. 10: Fight of the Year – TBA
Saturday. Jan. 11: Fighter of the Year – TBA

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Comeback Fighter of the Year

Final voting: Robbie Lawler (69%), Urijah Faber (18%), Cub Swanson (6%), Michael Johnson (3%), Ronaldo Souza (2%), Blagoi Ivanov (1%), write-in Travis Browne (1%)

The story goes that when UFC President Dana White was asked why he signed a fighter named Robbie Lawler who, at the time, had only four pro fights to his credit, he explained it as a “Christmas present to myself.”

A little more than a decade later, Lawler seems to have finally fulfilled the early promise that White saw in him at the start of his career, when he was little more than a tough 19-year-old who could take your head off with a single blow.

The latest stage in Lawler’s career is an improbable development in a lot of ways. Generally speaking, this is not how it goes in MMA. The guys with tons of potential who never quite grow all the way into it? They usually don’t realize it until it’s too late to change. Lawler is different, and his spectacular 3-0 year in the UFC proves why.

Lawler returned to the octagon after Zuffa’s purchase of Strikeforce, where he’d been a win-one-lose-one middleweight for the better part of three years. Before that he’d been a wandering knockout artist, bouncing from the UFC to PRIDE to the IFL and just about everywhere in between, before finally landing with EliteXC and winning the middleweight title just before the organization went belly up. His time with Strikeforce resulted in a mediocre 3-5 record, and yet he still had his moments where he reminded us in brief, violent flashes of the fighter he could be – at least on some nights, and at least for a little while.

When he returned at UFC 157 in February of 2013, he did so as a welterweight, which seemed like a decent idea that was probably answering the wrong questions. Then he surprised us with a first-round knockout of Josh Koscheck, followed by an utter destruction of Bobby Voelker at UFC on FOX 8, setting up a fight with serious welterweight contender Rory MacDonald at UFC 167 in November.

It was the kind of fight that the old Lawler pretty much always lost. Facing a careful, crafty, well-rounded opponent, it seemed like all the pieces were in play for Lawler to come in guns a-blazing and go out with another momentum-halting defeat. Only this time it didn’t happen that way. This time he managed to be aggressive, yet smart. He was dangerous without being reckless, and he came away with the split-decision victory that would ultimately land him in an upcoming fight opposite Johny Hendricks for the vacant UFC welterweight title at UFC 171.

Could it be? After all this time and so many missed opportunities, could Lawler really be just one win away from a UFC championship? After all, 2013 was the year he proved that tendencies and trajectories aren’t irresistible, unchangeable factors for veteran fighters. Maybe 2014 is the one where he takes it one step further and proves that even those who got lost on the way to greatness can still wander back onto the right path, if only someone will give them the chance.

Runner-up: Urijah Faber

At 34 years old, “The California Kid” is now a full-fledged adult, but his 2013 campaign demonstrated that he’s not ready to be shuffled off to the old fighters’ home just yet. Faber went 4-0 in the UFC this past year, maintaining his impressive winning streak in non-title bouts and possibly earning the chance to break his losing skid in ones with a belt on the line.

Does he have one more championship run in him? We’ll know soon enough, but ending the year with a dominant submission win over a contender like Michael McDonald bodes well for Faber’s future.