Johny Hendricks beats Robbie Lawler in epic battle and wins UFC belt

The welterweight division has a new champion! After years of dominance of Georges St Pierre – who decided to move away from the sport – the North American John hendricks fought an immense battle against Robbie Lawler and by winning in a close decision by the judges, he became the new owner of the belt. The fight was the main attraction of UFC 171, an event held on Saturday night (15), in Dallas, in the United States.

On the preliminary card, Brazil had two representatives on the show. Renée Forte was surpassed by Frank Trevino, while Jessica Stacker scored his second victory in the octagon against Rachel Pennington (read the full article here)

The fight

John hendricks entered the Octagon as a clear favorite to face Robbie Lawler, but as soon as the bell sounded, the American Top Team athlete showed that he was willing to win the belt and fought hard throughout the five rounds.

Lawler started better, closing the distance and striking heavily against Hendricks' head. Johny still tried a takedown, but Robbie showed that he studied his rival's game and avoided being taken down.

In the second round, Hendricks recovered and accepted the exchange of blows, which were not responded to by Lawler. The favorite seemed to take control of the fight in the third half as well, when a powerful counterattack from Robbie was connected. Lawler landed several attacks in the sequence and was close to ending the fight.

Buoyed by the big moment, Lawler started with everything in the fourth round and hit Johny with powerful blows, which opened a deep cut near the favorite's left eye. Once again, Robbie was close to ending the fight by technical knockout, but there was a lack of continuity in his attacks.

Believing he was losing according to the judges' scorecards, Hendricks opened the game and went all out for the last round. Johny avoided the short distance, connected the best punches and even managed a takedown in the final minute, but was unable to stabilize the position to work on top. Despite this, he finished the fight in an advantageous position on the ground.

With much expectation among the fighters and their teams, Bruce Buffer announced the decision and John hendricks was declared the new welterweight champion in a unanimous decision by the judges (triple 48×47). The belt's owner didn't hide his happiness and knelt in the Octagon, thrilled with his achievement. On the other hand, Lawler did not hide his disappointment with the result.

Woodley beats Condit and competes for belt

If in the main fight of the night, between Hendricks and Lawler, the upset was close to happening, in the second most anticipated duel it showed up. Former interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit he was one victory away from having a chance to fight for the title again. Although, Tyron woodley he ended his rival's plans and could jump the queue in his chance for the title.

With a smaller wingspan, Woodley soon took advantage of Condit's movement to impose his game. He waited for Carlos to shorten up to throw punches and responded with powerful counterattacks. When the opponent threw kicks to the waistline, Tyron quickly grabbed the leg and took the fight to the ground.

After opening the front in the first round and controlling the actions in the second round, the end of the fight came in an unusual way. Tyron woodley he applied a low kick to the left leg and made Condit turn his body, but his right knee got caught and ended up injured. He fell into the octagon screaming in pain and the referee ended the duel via technical knockout.

Check out the complete UFC 171 results below: 

Main Card

John hendricks derrotou Robbie Lawler in the judges' split decision;

Tyron woodley derrotou Carlos Condit by technical knockout (injury) in R2.

Myles Jury defeated Diego Sanchez in the judges' split decision;

Hector Lombard derrotou Jake Shields in the judges' split decision;

Ovince St Preux finished Nikita Krylov with a choke on R1;

Preliminary Card

Kelvin Gastelum defeated Rick Story via split decision;

Jessica Stacker derrotou Rachel Pennington in the judges' split decision;

Dennis Bermudez defeated Jimy Hettes via TKO in R3;

Alex Garcia defeated Sean Spencer via split decision;

Frank Trevino defeated Renée Forte in the unanimous decision of the judges;

Justin Scoggins defeated Will Campuzano via unanimous decision;

Sean Strickland submitted Bubba McDaniel with a rear naked choke in R1

Robert Whiteford defeated Daniel Pineda in the unanimous decision of the judges;