Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald put on one of the best fights in history during an epic battle that took place back in 2015, but now the matchup has hit the headlines again for all the wrong reasons.
Several weeks ago, MacDonald raised his own suspicions that Lawler was using some sort of performance enhancing drug ahead of their fight.
“I’m convinced he was [on performance enhancing drugs],” MacDonald said during a Reddit Q&A with fans in August.
MacDonald later explained in interviews that he felt like Lawler kept pressing forward during their fight no matter how much damage he was taking and he never slowed down over the course of the championship fight.
Of course, Lawler passed all drug tests surrounding the fight and has never tested positive for any banned substances during his career, but MacDonald seemed certain that he somehow cheated in their fight.
This week, Lawler finally responded when speaking to TSN in Canada and the former welterweight champion didn’t take any low blows while answering the charge from MacDonald. Instead he just hinted that perhaps MacDonald is trying to find an excuse for why he lost in the only championship fight he had during his UFC career.
“I think he’s trying to figure out why things happened the way they happened,” Lawler said. “He’s finding a different way to cope with it.”
Lawler also refutes the notion that he was somehow invincible in that fight because he was using an illegal substance. Lawler points to several big shots he ate during that grueling war includinga head kick that nearly finished him before he survived and returned fire.
“I was getting hurt,” Lawler said. “Obviously, I got stunned by a head kick and he cut my lip with an elbow but all you have in the end is your will to fight.”
In the end, Lawler did end up winning the fight by TKO as he handed MacDonald the first of a pair of losses he suffered in the UFC before entering free agency where he ultimately left the promotion and now fights for Bellator.
Meanwhile, Lawler is focused on his own problems as he prepares to meet Rafael dos Anjos in December with the winner expected to fight for the welterweight title in 2018.
