Robbie Lawler stays Robbie Lawler, but Matt Brown impresses in defeat

At least now we know what it takes to make Robbie Lawler smile.

He might walk around looking like an Easter Island statue most of the time, but all you have to do is punch him in the face a few times, preferably with great force, and then a grin that’s both genuine and terrifying spreads across his face. It’s a sight to behold, really.

Matt Brown (21-12 MMA, 12-6 UFC) taught us that much. He also taught us a lot about himself, even in defeat. The judges were right to hand this victory to Lawler (24-10 MMA, 9-4 UFC), who stalked, sniped, and smashed at Brown for the majority of their 25-minute encounter. Watching Lawler work, one can’t help but be reminded of those phrases of fearful admiration we reserve for ancient predators like sharks and crocodiles. The word “machine” comes to mind. As in “perfect,” and as in “killing.”

Lawler fights like it has never occurred to him to worry what violence the other guy might be capable of. All he’s concerned with is eliminating the means of escape. Maybe that’s why, when he does get hit, he seems to regard it as a pleasant surprise. How nice to be reminded that this is a conversation rather than a lecture. How adorable that you would seek to fight back.

Then the smile disappears and he’s back in shark mode. Because, the whole punching with great force thing? That is the thing that Lawler does to you, and not the other way around. He walks his opponents down like he knows this. All that’s left is for them to make their peace with it.

Here’s where Brown comes in. If you’d asked most of us before this fight – and, by opening an MMA website in the week leading up to this fight, you sort of did – we’d have told you that he’d be lucky to get through the first round with Lawler. Making it the distance, that seemed borderline impossible. “False advertising,” is how UFC color commentator Joe Rogan referred to broadcast partner Mike Goldberg’s remark that the main event was scheduled for five rounds. A superstitious fan might say he guaranteed us 25 minutes of fighting right then and there.

With a lot of other fights, that would have been a disappointment. Here, it was a treat. It meant more chances to watch not only Lawler’s superb offensive skills, but also Brown’s bottomless will. He bled and suffered, winced and staggered, but he never lost the willingness to plant his feet and hurl one back. (Watch the Lawler vs. Brown video highlights.)

At first that sounds, if not easy, then at least like something in the job description for fighters. Then you look at those who have failed to do it when they find themselves trapped under that artillery fire that Lawler’s known for pumping out, and you realize that it’s actually something special to stand up to that without being blown into a fine mist for your efforts.

Lawler has the sort of power that often convinces people to go away even before it forces them to. It just so happens that Brown has the sort of fortitude that rejects even the most compelling arguments, and – this is the kicker – he also has more skills to back that up than we gave him credit for.

That’s the thing about Brown. We seemed fine with thinking of him as a caveman-ish tough guy, someone whose only tool is a rock that he’s looking for every opportunity to throw. But against Lawler he reminded us that he’s got more technique than we thought, or at least more than suited the comfortable narrative. There were times when he seemed to have Lawler legitimately worried. It’s just that those times didn’t last long enough, and there weren’t enough of them.

That’s one way to lose a fight against Lawler. It’s also probably the best way, especially when few people expected you to be upright and conscious once the outcome was decided. Brown proved, again, that he’s more than we thought he was. Unfortunately for him, Lawler proved that he was every bit as scary as we’d come to believe. These days, he’s also got the terrible patience of a predator that’s seen ice ages come and go. And when a guy like that smiles at you, it’s probably not because he’s planning anything you’re going to want to stick around for.

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