'No offense to' MacDonald, but UFC champ Lawler not worrying about challenger

Robbie Lawler

Ask anyone who knows UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, and they’ll tell you he’s an absolute football fanatic – a stat junkie who will talk your ear off.

It’s no surprise, then, that Lawler (25-10 MMA, 10-4 UFC) would use football terminology to frame his upcoming rematch with Rory MacDonald (18-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC). As recently reported, the two meet July 11 at UFC 189 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Asked how MacDonald might adjust his approach for the rematch after a split-call loss to Lawler at UFC 167, the champ characteristically brushed aside any concern.

“I’m very far away from worrying about what Rory is going to do, so no offense to Rory, but I’m just going to worry about myself,” said the sport’s top-ranked welterweight, who recently signed an endorsement deal with adidas. “I’m not worried about what his game plan is or what his Xs and Os are. I’m just going to concentrate on getting better as a fighter.”

If you charted their first fight, you saw MacDonald consistently pressing for takedowns while Lawler threw big shots standing up. You’d see MacDonald end the fight with a flurry of elbows from top position, and Lawler covering up.

And yet, Lawler’s superior standup won over two of three judges, which allowed him to move on to fight for the title. After falling short against Johny Hendricks at UFC 171, Lawler went on to avenge his defeat to win the belt this past December.

Lawler and Hendricks originally were scheduled for a rubber match in March, but a busy 2014 prompted Lawler to put on the breaks and request a summer fight. MacDonald stepped into the spot when his originally scheduled opponent, Hector Lombard, failed a post-fight drug test.

With Lawler vs. McDonald II now confirmed, the champ is set for his first title defense.

Just don’t ask him to get too excited about it.

“It’s exciting to have a date and opponent, but that’s a ways out – it’s four-and-a-half months away, so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, which is try to get better every day,” he said. “And as the fight gets closer, my coaches will start fine tuning and putting a gameplan together.”

Lawler is pretty sure what he’s going to do when he fights MacDonald, and it’s no great secret.

“I always have the same plan,” he said. “If it does go to decision, you just have to win more rounds. I just want to go out there and try to stop somebody. That’s what my game plan is. Always.”

Ask him about fighting, of course, and it’s a much different story than football. Lawler has been doing this so long, he doesn’t have much new to say about his job. He even might nod off, as he famously did during a Strikeforce press conference.

Throwing in some gridiron talk might be Lawler’s way of keeping things interesting.

For more on UFC 189, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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